OAKLAND, California – OpenAI and Elon Musk have reached an agreement to accelerate the trial regarding OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit structure. This agreement marks the newest development in the ongoing legal dispute between the world’s richest person and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which is playing out publicly.
According to a filing in federal court on Friday, Musk and OpenAI jointly proposed the trial in December. The court document, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, indicates that the parties have also deferred a decision on whether the expedited case will be decided by a jury or by the judge alone.
The judge previously denied Musk’s request to halt the artificial intelligence group’s transition to a for-profit model; however, the court did agree to an expedited trial scheduled for the autumn. This comes after a contentious legal struggle.
“We welcome the court’s March 4 decision rejecting Elon Musk’s latest attempt to slow down OpenAI for his personal benefit,” OpenAI stated in a blog post released on Friday.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman back in 2015 but departed before the company gained traction. Musk later established the competing startup xAI in 2023.
In the past year, the CEO of Technology company Tesla and owner of the X social media platform initiated a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, alleging that OpenAI had deviated from its initial mission, which involved developing AI for the benefit of humanity, instead of corporate profit. Both OpenAI and Altman have denied the allegations, with Altman suggesting that Musk is attempting to hinder a competitor.
At the heart of the lawsuit lies the future of the ChatGPT creator’s for-profit model transition, which the startup says is important for raising capital and remaining competitive in the costly AI market. OpenAI’s most recent fundraising round, which reached $6.6 billion, plus another potential round of up to $40 billion under consideration with SoftBank Group, is dependent on OpenAI restructuring, which would remove nonprofit control.
The filing on Friday transpired just weeks after Altman, who has said OpenAI is not for sale, turned down an unsolicited takeover bid of $97.4 billion from a Musk-led consortium, responding with a clear “no thank you.”
