Elon Musk has lost his bid to block Sam Altman from transforming OpenAI into a for-profit entity – but a federal judge signaled Tuesday that she could expedite a trial to consider other elements of his antitrust case against the ChatGPT creator.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said Musk and his fellow plaintiffs had “failed to meet their burden of proof for the extraordinary relief requested” after claiming they faced irreparable harm if OpenAI was allowed to complete a planned restructuring.
“Given the public interest at stake and potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred, the Court is prepared to expedite trial to the fall of 2025,” Rogers wrote in her decision.
Filed last year, Musk’s lawsuit named OpenAI, Altman, investor Microsoft, billionaire Reid Hoffman and others as co-defendants.
His suit alleges that OpenAI violated antitrust law and abandoned its original goal of developing AI to benefit humanity while transforming from a “tax-exempt charity to a $157 billion for-profit, market-paralyzing gorgon.”
During a hearing last month, the judge said Musk’s claims of irreparable harm were a “stretch” but expressed openness to a trial, so long as the billionaire took the stand to testify.
“We look forward to a jury confirming that Altman accepted Musk’s charitable contributions knowing full well they had to be used for the public’s benefit rather than his own enrichment,” Musk attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement on the judge’s ruling.
Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman in 2015 and served as its key early investor, pouring about $45 million into the startup over a three-year span.
He later exited the firm after disagreements about its long-term direction.
Musk has since founded an artificial intelligence startup, xAI, that directly competes with OpenAI.
The public tussle between the two billionaires escalated last month after Musk made an unsolicited $97.4 billion to take control of OpenAI.
The offer was quickly rejected by Altman, who repeated his accusation that Musk was simply trying to slow down his key rival.
The judge said that Musk’s offer “undermined” his claim of irreparable harm.
“This has always been about competition,” OpenAI said in a statement on the judge’s decision. “Elon’s own emails show that he wanted to merge a for-profit OpenAI into Tesla. That would have been great for his personal benefit, but not for our mission or U.S. interests.”
The spat between Musk and Altman has turned personal in recent months as the two billionaires trade barbs in the media.
Altman recently told Bloomberg that Musk’s “whole life is from a position from insecurity” and that he doesn’t think Musk is a “happy person.”
“He obviously is a competitor,” Altman added. “I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this.”
Musk has referred to Altman as a “swindler.”
With Post wires
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