A federal judge has scheduled an April 27 trial date for the lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI chief executive Samuel Altman and other defendants, including Microsoft, according to a court order issued Tuesday.
The case will focus on Musk’s contention that OpenAI and Altman strayed from the organization’s founding purpose as a nonprofit created to serve the public good, and that he was misled as the group evolved into a profit-driven operation closely tied to Microsoft.
In his complaint, Musk alleges that Altman “intentionally courted and deceived” him by presenting OpenAI as a nonprofit meant to counter Google’s DeepMind research arm and to develop artificial intelligence as open-source technology for the benefit of humanity.
The lawsuit argues that OpenAI’s leadership later reorganized the company, established for-profit entities, and entered into multibillion-dollar agreements that, according to Musk, conflicted with that original mission.
Musk, who leads Tesla and SpaceX, was among OpenAI’s original founders and its largest early backer when it launched in 2015, contributing tens of millions of dollars in initial funding before departing three years later.
After OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, Musk went on to start a competing artificial intelligence venture, xAI.
Microsoft, which began investing in OpenAI in 2019, has since committed billions of dollars to the company and became its largest shareholder following a restructuring completed last year.
The jury trial will take place in Oakland, California, under the supervision of US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
{Matzav.com}
