Elon Musk has unexpectedly requested the dismissal of his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, which alleged that the AI company had abandoned its original mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

The filing, submitted by Musk’s legal team, did not provide any reasons for the withdrawal.

The move came just a day before a scheduled court hearing where OpenAI was set to argue for the case’s dismissal. The filing asked for the case to be dismissed “without prejudice,” meaning Musk retains the option to reactivate the lawsuit in the future.

Musk initially filed the lawsuit at the end of February, claiming that OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015, had shifted its focus from altruistic goals to profit-making. OpenAI responded by stating that Musk had previously supported the idea of a for-profit structure and had even suggested a merger with Tesla, his electric car company.

The dispute escalated earlier this week when Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to enhance its Siri voice assistant and operating systems using OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. Following the announcement, Musk took to his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to criticise the collaboration. In one post, he wrote, “Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river.”

Despite Musk’s criticisms, investors reacted positively to the news, boosting Apple’s market value to a record high above $3 trillion.

In July 2023, Musk founded his own AI company, xAI, with the aim of “understanding reality.” By November, xAI had launched Grok, a chatbot designed to compete with ChatGPT, notable for incorporating a touch of humour.

The dismissal of the lawsuit leaves questions unanswered about Musk’s future intentions regarding OpenAI and his broader AI ambitions.