OpenAI and Elon Musk have reportedly agreed to a trial date over OpenAI’s for-profit transition.
The artificial intelligence (AI) startup and the world’s wealthiest person have agreed to fast-track the trial, jointly proposing a December court date, Reuters reported Saturday (March 15), citing court documents.
Still undecided is the issue of whether the case will be heard by a jury or just by a judge, the report added.
Musk helped found OpenAI with CEO Sam Altman in 2015, but left the company before the generative AI boom took off. (He has since founded a competing startup, xAI.)
In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI and Altman, saying the company had deviated from its roots as a nonprofit company that wanted to build AI to help humanity. Altman and his company have denied Musk’s claims, with Altman saying Musk is simply trying to disrupt a rival.
OpenAI has also said that the switch to a for-profit model is critical to help it raise capital and compete with other AI firms. The company’s $6.6 billion funding round last year — as well as another planned $40 billion round — are contingent on OpenAI shedding the control of the nonprofit entity that governs it.
Musk and other investors last month offered OpenAI $97.4 billion to take control of the nonprofit. Altman and the board later rejected this bid.
Meanwhile, OpenAI last week submitted several policy proposals to the White House, saying they will preserve America’s AI competitiveness.
“OpenAI’s freedom-focused policy proposals, taken together, can strengthen America’s lead on AI and in doing so, unlock economic growth, lock in American competitiveness and protect our national security,” OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Christopher Lehane wrote in the comments submitted to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Among the company’s proposals is one calling on the federal government to preempt the states on AI-related laws, giving the industry relief from the increasing number of bills being considered by states. AI companies that opt-in to this offer would let the federal government access their AI models to ensure safety and test capabilities.
The company is also proposing that the federal government develop an export control strategy that not only restricts the flow of AI technologies to China while enhancing the export of the technologies to democratic countries.
