Elon Musk has lost his bid to block Sam Altman from turning Open Eye into a for-profit organization, but a federal judge on Tuesday showed that he could promote the trial to consider other elements of his antitrust case against the creators of Chat Grit.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said “we were unable to meet their extraordinary burden of relief” after claiming that Musk and his fellow plaintiffs faced irreparable harm if the Open was allowed to complete the planned restructuring.
“If conversion occurs against the law, given the possibility of harm and the likelihood of harm, the court is ready to promote trials until the fall of 2025,” Rogers wrote in her decision.
Last year, Musk's lawsuit filed cases as co-defendants, with the names of Openai, Altman, investor Microsoft and billionaire Reid Hoffman.
His lawsuit alleges Openai violated antitrust laws and abandoned its original goal of developing AI to benefit humanity while transforming from a tax-free charity into a $157 billion for-profit, market parising gorgon.”
At a hearing last month, the judge said Musk's irreparable harm claims were “stretching,” but expressed openness to the trial, as long as the billionaire stood up to testify.
“I look forward to the ju judges who will make sure Altman knows well enough that Musk's charitable contributions must be used for the public's benefit rather than for his own fulfillment,” Musk Attorney Marc Toberoff said in a statement on the judge's ruling.
Musk co-founded Openai with Altman in 2015, serving as its major early investor, pouring around $45 million into startups over three years.
He then left the company after disagreement about its long-term direction.
Musk later founded an artificial intelligence startup Xai that competes directly with Openai.
The public fight between the two billionaires escalated last month after Musk made $97.4 billion unsolicited to control the open.
The offer was quickly rejected by Altman, who repeated his accusations that Musk was simply trying to slow down his important rival.
The judge said Musk's offer “weaks” his claim of irreparable harm.
“This has always been about competition,” Openai said in a statement on the judge's decision. “Elon's own email shows that he wants to fuse the for-profit Openai with Tesla. It was great for his personal interests, but not for our mission or ours.”
The nausea between Musk and Altman has become personal in recent months as two billionaires trade barbs in the media.
Altman recently told Bloomberg that Musk “has been from an uncertainty position” and that he doesn't think that Musk is a “happy person.”
“He's clearly a competitor,” Altman added. “I hope he competes by building a better product, but I think there were a lot of tactics, a lot of lot of lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff.”
Musk calls Altman a “con man.”
With post wire
