Background

Elon Musk, who helped found OpenAI and initially funded the company, had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft last year. Musk claimed that OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, had broken their contract with him and violated the company's founding mission of building AI for the benefit of humanity.

Musk also accused OpenAI and Microsoft of telling investors not to fund rival AI companies, including his own xAI. However, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed this claim, citing a previous statement by Altman that the company only warned certain investors who were granted access to sensitive information that their rights would be terminated if they made a non-passive investment in rival companies.

Judge's Decision

The judge's decision is significant, as OpenAI is already in the process of talking with government officials about taking on a more typical corporate structure. While the judge rejected Musk's request for an injunction, she is fast-tracking his lawsuit and will hold an expedited trial later this year on the basis of public interest and Musk's claim that OpenAI's transformation has a potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred.

OpenAI has stated that the lawsuit is about competition, and that Musk's own emails show he wanted to merge a for-profit OpenAI into Tesla, which would have been beneficial to him personally but not for OpenAI's mission or US interests. Musk had also launched a bid to buy OpenAI for $97.4 billion earlier this year, but the company rejected the offer.