OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Elon Musk's lawyers dealt with off with OpenAI in court Tuesday as a federal judge weighed the billionaire's ask for a court order that would block the ChatGPT maker from transforming itself to a for-profit company.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a "stretch" for Musk to claim he will be irreparably harmed if she does not intervene to stop OpenAI from moving on with its shift from a not-for-profit research laboratory to a for-profit corporation.
But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she would not stop the case from transferring to trial as quickly as next year so a jury can decide.
"It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is stating holds true. We ´ ll discover. He ´ ll rest on the stand," she said.
Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, took legal action against the expert system company in 2015, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a not-for-profit research study laboratory the general public great. Musk had invested about $45 million in the start-up from its starting till 2018, his attorney said Tuesday.
Musk escalated the legal dispute late last year, including brand-new claims and defendants and requesting for a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s plans to transform itself into a for-profit business more totally. Musk also included his own AI company, xAI, as a plaintiff.
Also targeted by Musk's claim is OpenAI's close service partner Microsoft and tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, a former OpenAI board member who likewise rests on Microsoft's board.
Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for approving the sort of initial injunction that Musk wants however hasn't yet ruled on the demand. She did state she had "substantial issues" with two people linked to Microsoft on OpenAI's board - Hoffman and long time Microsoft executive Deanna Templeton, who was a "non-voting observer."
"So you want me to believe that she was sitting there listening to all the conversations and not telling anyone? What would the point be for her to sit there and listen to everybody, if not to communicate what she was listening? There would be no point for her to be there, which is why she in fact must not be there," she said.
Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, has actually been on Microsoft ´ s board because quickly after the tech giant purchased the task networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to prevent disputes with his AI startup, Inflection.
Templeton, who Musk also named as a defendant, was included as a non-voting member of OpenAI ´ s board in the after-effects of Altman ´ s ouster after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella looked for more stability on the board. But months later on, she was dropped from the OpenAI board as U.S. antitrust enforcers were revealing concerns about such plans on corporate boards.
The judge has actually managed a number of tech market cases consisting of Apple's fight with Epic Games, though she said Tuesday that Musk's case is "absolutely nothing like" that one. That case was likewise the last time she granted an initial injunction, in 2020, eight months before the case went to trial.
Then-President Barack Obama selected Gonzalez Rogers to the federal bench in 2011.
Tuesday's hearing was initially set for January however was held off after Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said his house was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.
Musk, who did not go to the hearing, wiki.rolandradio.net has declared in the claim that the business are breaching the terms of his fundamental contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a "stretch" to claim "permanent harm" to Musk, and called the case "billionaires vs. billionaires." She questioned why Musk invested tens of millions in OpenAI without a composed contract. Toberoff said it was due to the fact that the relationship in between Altman and Musk at the time was "developed on trust" and the 2 were really close.
"That is just a lot of cash" to invest "on a handshake," the judge said.
OpenAI has said Musk ´ s requested court order would "disable OpenAI ´ s company"and mission to the advantage of Musk and setiathome.berkeley.edu his own AI business and is based on "improbable" legal claims.
At the heart of the disagreement is a 2017 internal power battle at the recently established startup that led to Altman ending up being OpenAI ´ s CEO
. Emails divulged by OpenAI reveal Musk had likewise sought to be CEO and grew annoyed after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold too much power as a significant shareholder and president if the start-up prospered in its goal to attain better-than-human AI understood as synthetic general intelligence, or AGI. Musk has long voiced issues about how innovative forms of AI could threaten mankind.
Altman ultimately prospered in becoming CEO and has remained so other than for a period in 2023 when he was fired and then restored days later on after the board that ousted him was changed.
OpenAI has sought to show Musk ´ s early support for the concept of making OpenAI a for-profit company so it might raise cash for the hardware and computer power that AI requires.
Musk is not the only one challenging OpenAI's for-profit shift. Facebook and Instagram moms and dad Meta Platforms has asked California's lawyer general to obstruct it, and the workplace of Delaware's attorney general of the United States has said it is evaluating the conversion.
It was not clear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk's attorneys initially said they would be all set by June after some back-and-forth with the two sides the judge suggested it most likely will not be until June 2026 at the earliest, however likely early 2027.
O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.
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