A court in the US has denied Tesla CEO Elon Musk's request to block ChatGPT-maker OpenAI from converting itself into a for-profit company. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled late Tuesday that ¡°Musk has not demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits¡± in his request for a preliminary injunction.
The judge, however, said she could expedite a trial to consider Musk's claims against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.
Musk, who was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, which was established in 2016 as a non-profit, has been at war with the world's most popular AI chatbot maker in recent years after it announced plans to restructure itself as a for-profit entity.
Musk, who had initially committed to investing $1 billion in OpenAI, has invested around $45 million in the non-profit.
The world's richest man, who now has his own AI venture called xAI, challenged OpenAI's for-profit shift, arguing that it was a breach of contract and a betrayal of its founding aims as a non-profit.
Amid the legal tussle and tirade of name-calling of Altman on X, Musk even tried a hostile takeover of OpenAI last month after he and a group of investors made an unsolicited $97.4 billion bid to buy a controlling stake in the non-profit.
Musk's lawyer later informed the court that the Tesla CEO was ready to withdraw the offer if OpenAI agreed to remain a non-profit.
Musk's attorney, Marc Toberoff, said in a statement late Tuesday that he is pleased that the court offered an expedited trial on the core claims.
"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,¡± Toberoff said.
OpenAI also said it welcomed the court¡¯s decision.
¡°This has always been about competition,¡± a statement from the company said. ¡°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 US interests.¡±
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