Musk takes legal action against to obstruct OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015

OpenAI argues for-profit relocation required for capital

Nonprofit to for-profit conversion unusual, professional states

(Adds judge did not decide whether to release the injunction in paragraph 5, OpenAi’s lawyers’ comment in paragraph 13)

By Anna Tong and Akash Sriram

OAKLAND, Calif., Feb 4 (Reuters) - A federal judge said on Tuesday that parts of Elon Musk’s claim against OpenAI to stop its conversion to a for-profit entity may go to trial, adding that the Tesla CEO will have to appear in court and testify.

“Something is going to trial in this case,” U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, said early in the court session.

”(Elon Musk will) sit on the stand, present it to a jury, and a jury will decide who is right.” Rogers was considering Musk’s current ask for photorum.eclat-mauve.fr a preliminary injunction to block OpenAI’s conversion before going to trial, the newest in an animosity match between the world’s richest person and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that is playing out publicly in court.

Rogers did not decide whether or asteroidsathome.net not to issue the injunction Tuesday, however at one point recommended that Musk’s legal group had not presented enough evidence for her to provide the injunction, and suggested she may hold an evidentiary hearing, where both sides might present witnesses and proof. The last time Rogers offered an initial injunction remained in Epic Games’ case against Apple in May 2021.

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, however left before the business removed and consequently established the contending AI startup xAI in 2023. OpenAI is now attempting to shift from a nonprofit into a for-profit entity, lovewiki.faith which it says it needs to do to secure the capital required to develop the very best artificial intelligence models. Last year, Musk submitted a claim against OpenAI and Altman, saying that OpenAI ´ s founders initially approached him to money a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, however that it is now focused on earning money. He later on expanded the claim to add federal antitrust and other claims, and in December asked the judge administering over the case to stop OpenAI from transitioning to a for-profit.

In action to Musk ´ s claim, OpenAI has said it will transfer to dismiss Musk ´ s claims which Musk “should be contending in the marketplace instead of the courtroom.” The stakes on OpenAI’s corporate transition have actually now intensified, as OpenAI ´ s last fundraising round of $6.6 billion and a new round of up to $25 billion under discussion with SoftBank are conditioned on the business reorganizing to get rid of the nonprofit ´ s control.

During the hearing, OpenAI’s attorneys said the factor wiki.rrtn.org to enable OpenAI to become a for-profit entity is since it would be essential to facilitate the objective of the not-for-profit.

Such a restructuring would be highly uncommon, said Rose Chan Loui, executive director of the UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits. Nonprofit conversions to for-profits have traditionally been for health care companies like hospitals, asteroidsathome.net not venture capital-backed companies, she said. (Reporting by Anna Tong in Oakland and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, Editing by Marguerita Choy)