Recently, the legal dispute between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI has once again become the focus of public attention. Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of deviating from its original mission in its transformation from a non-profit organization to a profitable company. Founded in 2015, OpenAI was originally a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the development of artificial intelligence technology. However, in 2019, OpenAI announced its transformation into a “limited profit” structure and plans to further become a public interest company.
Musk applied to the court for an interim injunction on OpenAI's profit transformation, but California North District District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers recently rejected the request. Nevertheless, the judge expressed concerns about OpenAI's future transformation in the ruling. She notes that when public funds from nonprofits are used to support profitable transformation, it can cause "significant and irreparable harm." Under OpenAI's current architecture, its nonprofit organization still holds a majority stake in the profitable business and will receive billions of dollars in compensation during the transformation process.
The judge specifically mentioned in the judgment that OpenAI's founders, including CEO Ultraman Sam and President Greg Brockman, made a "basic commitment" to ensure that OpenAI is not used as a tool for personal wealth. The judge said the court plans to speed up the trial of the case in the fall of 2025 to resolve the dispute arising from the company’s restructuring.
Musk's attorney Mark Toborov expressed satisfaction with the judge's ruling and said they were willing to accept the proposal to speed up the trial. OpenAI has not yet made a clear response to this.
Although the judge's ruling was not entirely beneficial to OpenAI, it also brought victory to the company to some extent. She pointed out that the evidence provided by Musk on his side was not enough to support the application for a temporary ban, and mentioned that some emails showed that Musk had considered OpenAI's possible future profitable company.
At the same time, Musk's AI company xAI and OpenAI are in a fierce competitive relationship, and the two sides are rivals in the research and development of cutting-edge AI models. With the strengthening of regulatory scrutiny and changing market dynamics in the coming months, OpenAI's profit transformation will face more attention and challenges.
Key points:
The judge dismissed Musk's request for an injunction but expressed concerns about OpenAI's profit transformation.
The founder of OpenAI promised not to use the company for personal gain, and the judge emphasized this.
OpenAI plans to complete profit transformation by 2026, and future development will face regulatory and market pressure.