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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Elon Musk's attorneys dealt with off with OpenAI in court Tuesday as a federal judge weighed the billionaire's request for a court order that would obstruct the ChatGPT maker from converting itself to a for-profit company.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a "stretch" for wiki.whenparked.com Musk to claim he will be irreparably damaged if she does not step in to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its shift from a nonprofit research laboratory to a for-profit corporation.

But the judge likewise raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she would not stop the case from relocating to trial as quickly as next year so a jury can choose.

"It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is stating holds true. We ´ ll find out. He ´ ll rest on the stand," she said.

Musk, an early OpenAI financier and board member, annunciogratis.net took legal action against the expert system business last year, wiki.die-karte-bitte.de first in a California state court and later on in federal court, declaring it had actually betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research study laboratory benefiting the public good. Musk had actually invested about $45 million in the start-up from its founding until 2018, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Musk escalated the legal conflict late last year, including brand-new claims and offenders and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s prepares to convert itself into a for-profit organization more completely. Musk also added his own AI company, xAI, as a plaintiff.

Also targeted by Musk's claim is OpenAI's close business partner Microsoft and tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, a previous OpenAI board member who likewise rests on Microsoft's board.

Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for authorizing the type of preliminary injunction that Musk wants however hasn't yet ruled on the request. She did say she had "substantial concerns" with two people linked to Microsoft on OpenAI's board - Hoffman and longtime Microsoft Deanna Templeton, who was a "non-voting observer."

"So you desire me to believe that she was sitting there listening to all the discussions and not informing anybody? What would the point be for her to sit there and listen to everybody, if not to communicate what she was listening? There would be no point for her to be there, which is why she actually should not exist," she said.

Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, has been on Microsoft ´ s board considering that quickly after the tech giant bought the job networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to avoid conflicts with his AI start-up, Inflection.

Templeton, who Musk likewise called as an offender, was included as a non-voting member of OpenAI ´ s board in the consequences of Altman ´ s ouster after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sought more stability on the board. But months later on, she was dropped from the OpenAI board as U.S. antitrust enforcers were expressing concerns about such arrangements on corporate boards.

The judge has handled a number of tech industry cases including Apple's fight with Epic Games, though she said Tuesday that Musk's case is "absolutely nothing like" that a person. That case was also the last time she approved a preliminary injunction, in 2020, 8 months before the case went to trial.

Then-President Barack Obama selected Gonzalez Rogers to the federal bench in 2011.

Tuesday's hearing was originally set for January however was delayed after Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff said his house was ruined in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Musk, who did not go to the hearing, has actually declared in the claim that the companies are violating the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a "stretch" to claim "irreversible damage" to Musk, and called the case "billionaires vs. billionaires." She questioned why Musk invested 10s of millions in OpenAI without a composed contract. Toberoff said it was since the relationship in between Altman and asystechnik.com Musk at the time was "constructed on trust" and botdb.win the two were really close.

"That is just a lot of money" to invest "on a handshake," the judge said.

OpenAI has said Musk ´ s asked for court order would "incapacitate OpenAI ´ s business"and mission to the benefit of Musk and his own AI business and is based on "far-fetched" legal claims.

At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the recently established startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI ´ s CEO

. Emails revealed by OpenAI show Musk had actually also sought to be CEO and grew annoyed after 2 other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold excessive power as a significant investor and chief executive if the start-up prospered in its goal to attain better-than-human AI understood as artificial basic intelligence, or AGI. Musk has actually long voiced concerns about how advanced forms of AI could threaten humankind.

Altman ultimately succeeded in ending up being CEO and has actually remained so except for bio.rogstecnologia.com.br a period in 2023 when he was fired and after that renewed days later on after the board that ousted him was replaced.

OpenAI has sought to show Musk ´ s early assistance for the idea of making OpenAI a for-profit organization so it might raise cash for the hardware and computer power that AI needs.

Musk is not the only one challenging OpenAI's for-profit transition. Facebook and Instagram moms and dad Meta Platforms has asked California's chief law officer to block it, photorum.eclat-mauve.fr and the workplace of Delaware's attorney general has said it is examining the conversion.

It was not clear Tuesday when the case may go to trial. Musk's attorneys at first said they would be all set by June after some back-and-forth with the 2 sides the judge indicated it probably will not be up until June 2026 at the earliest, but likely early 2027.

O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

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