Judge rejects Musk's bid to block OpenAI's for-profit transition

A US court on Tuesday denied billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk a preliminary injunction he was seeking against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI's efforts to convert into a for-profit firm.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California said Musk has not met "the high burden required for a preliminary injunction" to block the conversion of OpenAI to a for-profit status.

However, Rogers said that she is prepared to expedite a trial on the issue to later this year.

Marc Toberoff, a lawyer for Musk, said they were pleased that the judge "offered an expedited trial on the core claims driving this case, which in its words present 'urgent' issues in the public's interest."

"We look forward to a jury confirming that (OpenAI CEO Sam) Altman accepted Musk's charitable contributions knowing full well they had to be used for the public's benefit rather than his own enrichment," Toberoff said in a statement.

OpenAI has been trying to transition from a nonprofit into a for-profit entity, which it says it needs to do to secure the capital required to develop the best artificial intelligence models. The chatbot maker said in a statement that it welcomed the court's decision.

OpenAI backer Microsoft did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Musk had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman last year, saying OpenAI's founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it is now focused on making money.

He later expanded the lawsuit to add federal antitrust and other claims, and in December asked the judge presiding over the case to stop OpenAI's transition into a for-profit.

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off and subsequently founded competing AI startup xAI in 2023.