Billionaire visionary Elon Musk persuaded a judge on Wednesday to allow a jury trial on his allegations that ChatGPT maker OpenAI violated its founding mission in its high-profile restructuring to a for-profit entity.
Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI in 2015 but left in 2018 and now runs an AI company that competes with it. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, said at a hearing that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting OpenAI’s leaders made assurances that its original nonprofit structure was going to be maintained.
The judge said there were enough disputed facts to let a jury consider the claims at a trial scheduled for March, rather than decide the issues herself.
The court battle comes amid a broader showdown over dominance in the market for generative artificial intelligence. Musk’s xAI and its chatbot Grok are competing with OpenAI and other technology developers.
Musk is seeking unspecified monetary damages from what he calls “ill-gotten gains” by OpenAI… Steven Molo, a lead trial attorney for Musk and xAI, said after the hearing that “we look forward to presenting all the evidence of the defendants’ wrongdoing to the jury.”
Musk contends he contributed about $38 million, roughly 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, along with strategic guidance and credibility, based on assurances that the organization would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit.
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of plotting a for-profit switch to enrich themselves, culminating in multibillion-dollar deals with Microsoft, opens new tab and a recent restructuring.
MacDailyNews Take: This will be an interesting trial and, since Apple Intelligence (Siri) uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT when it can’t handle things (which often occurs), also of interest in Apple Park.
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