A U.S. court on Tuesday denied Elon Musk’s request for a preliminary injunction to block OpenAI’s conversion into a for-profit organization.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, stated that Musk had not met the “high burden required for a preliminary injunction” to stop the transition.
However, Judge Rogers agreed to expedite a trial on the matter, setting it for later this year. Marc Toberoff, Musk’s lawyer, expressed satisfaction with the judge’s decision to fast-track the trial, noting that the case addresses “urgent” issues of public interest.
“We look forward to a jury confirming that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman accepted Musk’s charitable contributions, knowing they had to be used for the public’s benefit,” Toberoff said in a statement.
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has been working to transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity, citing the need to secure capital for the development of advanced artificial intelligence models. The company welcomed the court’s decision, which allows it to continue its shift toward profitability.
Musk had filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman in 2024, accusing the company’s founders of misleading him about the nonprofit’s mission, which he claims was originally focused on developing AI for public benefit. Musk later expanded the lawsuit to include federal antitrust and other claims, seeking to halt OpenAI’s shift to a for-profit model.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left the organization before its major success. In 2023, Musk founded xAI, a competing AI startup.
