Additional Coverage:
Elon Musk’s legal attempt to block OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit company has been denied by a California judge. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk hadn’t met the requirements for a preliminary injunction.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but departed in 2018, filed the lawsuit last year. He alleges that OpenAI’s initial aim as a non-profit, focused on developing AI for the benefit of humanity, has been abandoned in favor of profit. Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, stated they are confident a jury will confirm OpenAI CEO Sam Altman accepted Musk’s contributions under the understanding they would be used for public benefit.
Judge Rogers plans to expedite a trial later this year.
OpenAI responded to the ruling, telling the Associated Press, “This has always been about competition. Elon’s own emails show that he wanted to merge a for-profit OpenAI into Tesla.” They further argue this merger would have primarily benefited Musk, not OpenAI’s mission or broader U.S. interests.
Earlier this year, Musk made an unsolicited bid of $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI. At the time, Altman suggested to Bloomberg that Musk’s actions, including the lawsuits, were tactics to slow down OpenAI and benefit his own AI startup, xAI, which he founded in 2023. Altman expressed his preference for competition through product development rather than legal battles.