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

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said it was a "stretch" for fishtanklive.wiki Musk to claim he will be irreparably damaged if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from progressing with its shift from a nonprofit lab to a for-profit corporation.

But the judge also raised issues about OpenAI and its relationship with company partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as soon as next year so a jury can choose.

"It is possible that what Mr. Musk is stating is real. We ´ ll discover. He ´ ll rest on the stand," she said.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, took legal action against the expert system business in 2015, first in a California state court and equipifieds.com later on in federal court, alleging it had actually betrayed its founding aims as a not-for-profit research study lab benefiting the general public great. Musk had invested about $45 million in the startup from its starting till 2018, his legal representative said Tuesday.

Musk escalated the legal dispute late last year, including new claims and accuseds and requesting for a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s plans to convert itself into a for-profit service more totally. Musk likewise included his own AI business, yogicentral.science xAI, as a plaintiff.

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

Rogers said she has a high bar for authorizing the kind of preliminary injunction that Musk desires but hasn't yet ruled on the demand. She did state she had "significant issues" with two 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 conversations and not informing anyone? What would the point be for her to sit there and listen to everybody, if not to interact what she was listening? There would be no point for her to be there, which is why she in fact must not be there," she said.

Hoffman, forum.pinoo.com.tr a co-founder of LinkedIn, has actually been on Microsoft ´ s board considering that quickly after the tech huge purchased the job networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to avoid disputes with his AI start-up, Inflection.

Templeton, who Musk likewise called as an offender, was added 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, she was dropped from the OpenAI board as U.S. antitrust enforcers were expressing issues about such plans on business boards.

The judge has actually handled a number of tech industry cases including 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 gave an initial injunction, smfsimple.com in 2020, 8 months before the case went to trial.

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

Tuesday's hearing was initially set for January however was held off after Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff said his house was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Musk, who did not attend the hearing, has alleged in the claim that the business are breaking the terms of his fundamental 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 10s of millions in OpenAI without a written agreement. Toberoff said it was due to the fact that the relationship in between Altman and Musk at the time was "developed on trust" and the 2 were extremely close.

"That is just a great deal of cash" to invest "on a handshake," the judge said.

OpenAI has actually said Musk ´ s requested court order would "cripple OpenAI ´ s organization"and objective to the benefit of Musk and his own AI company and is based upon "far-fetched" legal claims.

At the heart of the conflict is a 2017 internal power battle at the new startup that caused Altman becoming OpenAI ´ s CEO

. Emails divulged by OpenAI show Musk had actually also looked for to be CEO and grew frustrated after two other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold excessive power as a major shareholder and president if the start-up was successful in its objective to attain better-than-human AI called synthetic general intelligence, or AGI. Musk has actually long voiced issues about how sophisticated types of AI could threaten mankind.

Altman eventually was successful in ending up being CEO and has actually 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 demonstrate Musk ´ s early assistance for the concept of making OpenAI a for-profit service so it might raise cash for the hardware and computer power that AI requires.

Musk is not the only one challenging OpenAI's for-profit shift. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has actually asked California's attorney general of the United States to block it, and the workplace of Delaware's attorney general has said it is evaluating the conversion.

It was not clear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk's lawyers at first said they would be all set by June after some back-and-forth with the two sides the judge showed 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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