OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Elon Musk’s attorneys faced off with OpenAI in court Tuesday as a federal judge weighed the billionaire’s ask for a court order that would obstruct the ChatGPT maker from transforming itself to a for-profit business.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a “stretch” for Musk to claim he will be irreparably hurt if she doesn’t step in to stop OpenAI from moving forward with its transition from a not-for-profit lab to a for-profit corporation.

But the judge also raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with service partner Microsoft and said she would not stop the case from moving to trial as quickly as next year so a jury can decide.

“It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is stating holds true. We ´ ll learn. He ´ ll sit on the stand,” she said.

Musk, an early OpenAI financier and board member, surgiteams.com took legal action against the expert system company last year, initially 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 general public excellent. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its founding up until 2018, his legal representative said Tuesday.

Musk escalated the legal dispute late in 2015, surgiteams.com adding new claims and accuseds and requesting a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s prepares to convert itself into a for-profit service more totally. Musk likewise included his own AI company, xAI, wiki.eqoarevival.com as a plaintiff.

Also targeted by Musk’s claim is OpenAI’s close company partner Microsoft and tech business owner Reid Hoffman, a former OpenAI board member who also rests on Microsoft’s board.

Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for approving the type of initial injunction that Musk wants but hasn’t yet ruled on the request. She did state she had “considerable concerns” with 2 people connected to Microsoft on OpenAI’s board - Hoffman and long time Microsoft executive 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 telling 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 in fact should not be there,” she said.

Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, asteroidsathome.net has actually been on Microsoft ´ s board since quickly after the tech huge bought the task networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2023 to avoid disputes with his AI startup, 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 revealing issues about such arrangements on corporate boards.

The judge has dealt with a variety of tech industry cases consisting of Apple’s battle with Epic Games, though she said Tuesday that Musk’s case is “absolutely nothing like” that one. That case was also the last time she granted a preliminary injunction, in 2020, eight 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 home was damaged in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Musk, who did not attend the hearing, historydb.date has actually declared in the claim that the companies are breaching the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a “stretch” to claim “irreparable harm” to Musk, and called the case “billionaires vs. billionaires.” She questioned why Musk invested tens of millions in OpenAI without a composed agreement. Toberoff said it was because the relationship in between Altman and Musk at the time was “constructed on trust” and the 2 were very close.

“That is simply a lot of cash” to invest “on a handshake,” the judge said.

OpenAI has actually said Musk ´ s asked for court order would “cripple OpenAI ´ s service”and mission to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company and is based on “improbable” legal claims.

At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power struggle at the recently established start-up that led to Altman ending up being OpenAI ´ s CEO

. Emails disclosed by OpenAI show Musk had actually likewise sought to be CEO and grew annoyed after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold excessive power as a major investor and president if the startup prospered in its goal to attain better-than-human AI referred to as synthetic general intelligence, or AGI. Musk has long voiced concerns about how advanced kinds of AI could threaten humankind.

Altman eventually prospered in becoming CEO and has remained so except for a period in 2023 when he was fired and then renewed days later after the board that ousted him was replaced.

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

Musk is not the only one challenging OpenAI’s for-profit shift. Facebook and Instagram moms and dad Meta Platforms has asked California’s chief law officer to block it, and disgaeawiki.info the workplace of Delaware’s chief law officer has said it is examining the conversion.

It was not clear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk’s lawyers initially said they would be all set by June after some back-and-forth with the two sides the judge indicated it probably will not be till June 2026 at the earliest, online-learning-initiative.org but likely early 2027.

O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

-------