OpenAI, Musk Accelerate Trial for Profit-Driven Shift

OAKLAND: OpenAI and Elon Musk have agreed to expedite a trial regarding OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit model, marking the latest development in an ongoing public feud between Musk, the world’s richest individual, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The billionaire and OpenAI proposed a trial in December, as outlined in a federal court filing made public on Friday.

The parties agreed to postpone a decision on whether the upcoming case will be directed by a jury or solely by the judge, according to the filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

This month, the judge denied Musk’s request to halt OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure but approved an accelerated trial set for the fall, representing another twist in this high-stakes legal skirmish.

“We support the court’s March 4 ruling, which dismissed Elon Musk’s efforts to impede OpenAI for his personal gain,” OpenAI stated in a blog post on Friday.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, departed the company prior to its significant growth and later established the rival startup xAI in 2023.

In the previous year, Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of the X social media platform, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, claiming that the organization had deviated from its original mission to create AI for the benefit of humanity rather than for corporate profit.

Both OpenAI and Altman have denied these claims, with Altman asserting that Musk is attempting to hinder a competitor.

The outcome of the lawsuit is critical regarding OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit framework, which the organization argues is essential for securing additional funding and remaining competitive in the costly AI sector.

OpenAI’s recent fundraising round raised $6.6 billion, and a potential new round of up to $40 billion is under negotiation with SoftBank Group, contingent on the restructuring of OpenAI to eliminate the nonprofit’s authority.

This filing comes a few weeks after Altman, who maintains that OpenAI is not for sale, rejected a $97.4 billion unsolicited acquisition offer from a Musk-led group with a firm “no thank you.”