Elon Musk’s attempt to stop OpenAI’s change from volunteer to for-profit position was rejected by a U.S. determine on Tuesday, which marked the most recent section in the terrible conflict between the Tesla and SpaceX CEO and the Artificial company he once helped found. Elon Musk agreed to an extended trial later this year.
Despite Musk’s best efforts, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that the former volunteer OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015 before quitting a few years later, lacks sufficient proof to prevent its conversion.
The prosecutor wrote,” On the whole, the court finds that the emails are inappropriate for the purposes of the great problem required for a initial injunction, and the query of likelihood of success on the merits is a toss-up.”
Judge Gonzalez Rogers acknowledged the open bets involved despite defusing the quick order. She moved the scenario forward with a demo as soon as this fall.
The jury is prepared to speed test to the fall of 2025 based only on that state and possibly the linked contract-based claims, she wrote.” Given the public curiosity at play and potential for harm if a change against the law occurred, the court is prepared to quicken trial to the fall of 2025.”
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, receives an early victory in the ruling, but Musk’s larger lawsuit is still active, setting the stage for a high-profile courtroom showdown between the tech titans in the coming months.
Musk claims that OpenAI abandoned its original intent, and he is basing his lawsuit on that claim. He asserts that the business was established to advance artificial intelligence rather than to maximize profits for a select few. OpenAI and Altman have consistently refuted these claims, arguing that this is simply a tactic to stop competition now that Musk has founded his own rival AI startup.
An OpenAI spokesperson told ,” We welcome the court’s decision.” It has always been about competition, they say. According to Elon’s own emails, he wanted to combine Tesla with a nonprofit OpenAI. His personal benefit would have been great, but not our mission or U.S. interests.
‘s request for comment wasn’t immediately responded to by OpenAI.
Musk’s legal team presented the decision in a more positive light, focusing on the pending case rather than the denied injunction. The team confirmed to that they plan to accept the court’s offer to speed up the trial.
In a statement shared with media outlets, Marc Toberoff, Elon Musk’s attorney, stated in a statement that” we look forward to a jury confirming that Altman accepted Musk’s charitable contributions knowing full well they had been used for the public’s benefit rather than his own enrichment.
For both sides, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The for-profit transition represents a significant step in the direction of raising the massive funding needed to compete in the increasingly expensive AI arms race, according to OpenAI. The case presents a chance for Musk, who currently co-chairs rival AI startup xAI, to avoid what he sees as a risky departure from OpenAI’s founding principles and a significant threat to xAI’s business model.
The legal drama grew even more recently when Altman rejected a massive$ 97.4 billion takeover offer from a Musk-led group with a straightforward” no thank you.” Altman, who asserts that OpenAI is not for sale, suggested Musk is attempting to stifle a rival rather than advance the common good.
No, but we will purchase Twitter for$ 9.74 billion if you want.
— Sam Altman ( @sama ) February 10, 2025
Meanwhile, Japanese investment stoo, reported to be in talks to lead a$ 40 billion funding round for OpenAI, which could put the ChatGPT maker at$ 300 billion. That would be in contrast to the$ 75 billion valuation Musk’s xAI has reportedly discussed in its own recent fundraising efforts.
The controversy has been raised by the case regarding the link between public benefit missions and AI development costs. OpenAI began as a nonprofit in 2015, adding a” capped-profit” structure in 2019 to entice investment while upholding its nonprofit mission. The current effort to end the profit cap has raised more complex questions about corporate responsibility and AI governance than just Musk’s lawsuit.
edited by Andrew Hayward
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