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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Elon Musk's lawyers 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 Musk to claim he will be irreparably damaged if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from moving on with its transition from a not-for-profit lab to a for-profit corporation.

But the judge likewise raised concerns about OpenAI and wiki.eqoarevival.com its relationship with business partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from relocating to trial as quickly as next year so a jury can decide.

"It is plausible that what Mr. Musk is saying is real. We ´ ll learn. He ´ ll rest on the stand," she said.

Musk, an early OpenAI financier and board member, took legal action against the synthetic intelligence business last year, initially in a California state court and later on in federal court, alleging it had actually betrayed its starting aims as a nonprofit research study laboratory benefiting the general public excellent. Musk had invested about $45 million in the start-up from its starting up until 2018, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Musk escalated the legal dispute late in 2015, including new claims and offenders and requesting a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s plans to convert itself into a for-profit organization more totally. Musk also included his own AI business, xAI, 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 likewise sits on Microsoft's board.

Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for authorizing the kind of initial injunction that Musk desires but hasn't yet ruled on the demand. She did state she had "considerable 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 want 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 communicate what she was listening? There would be no point for her to be there, which is why she in fact needs to not be there," she said.

Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, has actually been on Microsoft ´ s board since quickly after the tech giant bought the task networking site. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to avoid disputes with his AI start-up, Inflection.

Templeton, who Musk also named 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 looked for more stability on the board. But months later on, she was dropped from the OpenAI board as U.S. antitrust enforcers were expressing concerns about such plans on business boards.

The judge has dealt with 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, in 2020, 8 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 wavedream.wiki January however was postponed after Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff said his house was destroyed in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Musk, who did not go to the hearing, has declared in the claim that the business are breaking the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a "stretch" to claim "permanent damage" to Musk, and called the case "billionaires vs. billionaires." She questioned why Musk invested 10s of millions in OpenAI without a written contract. Toberoff said it was because the relationship between Altman and Musk at the time was "developed on trust" and the 2 were very close.

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

OpenAI has said Musk ´ s requested court order would "cripple OpenAI ´ s organization"and objective to the advantage of Musk and his own AI business and is based upon "improbable" legal claims.

At the heart of the conflict is a 2017 internal power struggle at the recently established startup that led to Altman becoming OpenAI ´ s CEO

. Emails disclosed by OpenAI show Musk had also sought to be CEO and grew annoyed after 2 other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold excessive power as a significant investor and primary executive if the startup was successful in its objective to attain better-than-human AI understood as synthetic general intelligence, or AGI. Musk has actually long voiced concerns about how innovative forms of AI might threaten mankind.

Altman ultimately prospered in ending up being CEO and has actually remained so other than for a duration in 2023 when he was fired and then renewed days later on after the board that ousted him was changed.

OpenAI has looked for to demonstrate Musk ´ s early assistance for the concept of making OpenAI a so it could raise money for the hardware and computer power that AI requires.

Musk is not the only one difficult OpenAI's for-profit transition. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has actually asked California's chief law officer to obstruct it, and the office of Delaware's attorney general of the United States has said it is evaluating the conversion.

It was unclear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk's legal representatives at first said they would be ready by June after some back-and-forth with the 2 sides the judge suggested it most likely 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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