Judge rejects Musk’s attempt to block OpenAI’s for-profit transition

A federal judge in Northern California denied Elon Musk’s motion for an injunction that would have halted OpenAI’s planned transition into a for-profit company, Bloomberg reported.

Musk failed to provide enough evidence necessary for an injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled Tuesday. However, Rogers said the court is prepared to hold an expedited trial solely based on the claim that OpenAI’s conversion plan is unlawful, noting that “irreparable harm is incurred when the public’s money is used to fund a non-profit’s conversion into a for-profit.”

The ruling marks the latest turn in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, which accuses the ChatGPT maker of abandoning its original nonprofit mission to make the fruits of AI research available to all.

Just a few weeks ago, Musk submitted an unsolicited takeover bid to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion, an offer OpenAI’s board unanimously rejected. That said, the bid may create future headaches for OpenAI as it tries to adopt a more conventional corporate structure.