OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Elon Musk's lawyers dealt with off with OpenAI in court Tuesday as a federal judge weighed the billionaire's request for a court order that would obstruct the ChatGPT maker from converting 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 damaged if she does not intervene to stop OpenAI from moving on with its shift from a not-for-profit research lab to a for-profit corporation.

But the judge likewise raised concerns about OpenAI and its relationship with organization partner Microsoft and said she wouldn't stop the case from transferring 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 investor and board member, took legal action against the synthetic intelligence business last year, first in a California state court and later on in federal court, declaring it had betrayed its starting aims as a nonprofit research study lab benefiting the general public great. Musk had invested about $45 million in the start-up from its founding up until 2018, his legal representative said Tuesday.

Musk escalated the legal conflict late last year, including brand-new claims and defendants and requesting a court order that would stop OpenAI ´ s plans to convert itself into a for-profit organization more totally. Musk likewise included his own AI company, xAI, as a plaintiff.

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

Gonzalez Rogers said she has a high bar for approving the kind of initial injunction that Musk wants however hasn't yet ruled on the request. She did state she had "substantial issues" with two individuals connected to Microsoft on OpenAI's board - Hoffman and longtime Microsoft executive Deanna Templeton, videochatforum.ro who was a "non-voting observer."

"So you desire me to believe that she was sitting there listening to all the conversations and not telling any person? 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 actually should not be there," she said.

Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, has been on Microsoft ´ s board given that shortly after the tech huge purchased the job networking website. He stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 to avoid conflicts with his AI startup, Inflection.

Templeton, who Musk likewise named as an offender, was added as a non-voting member of OpenAI ´ s board in the aftermath 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 managed a number of tech market cases including Apple's fight with Epic Games, though she said Tuesday that Musk's case is "nothing like" that a person. That case was likewise 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 initially set for January but was delayed after Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff said his home was ruined in the Pacific Palisades wildfire.

Musk, vokipedia.de who did not go to the hearing, has actually declared in the claim that the companies are violating the terms of his foundational contributions to the charity. Judge Gonzalez Rogers called it a "stretch" to claim "permanent harm" 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 two were extremely close.

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

OpenAI has said Musk ´ s requested court order would "incapacitate OpenAI ´ s service"and mission to the benefit of Musk and his own AI company and is based upon "improbable" legal claims.

At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 internal power battle at the fledgling startup that resulted in Altman ending up being OpenAI ´ s CEO

. Emails divulged by OpenAI reveal Musk had likewise sought to be CEO and grew frustrated after 2 other OpenAI co-founders said he would hold excessive power as a significant investor and president if the startup prospered in its objective to attain better-than-human AI called synthetic general intelligence, or wavedream.wiki AGI. Musk has actually long voiced issues about how innovative forms of AI might .

Altman eventually succeeded in becoming CEO and asteroidsathome.net has actually remained so except for gratisafhalen.be a period in 2023 when he was fired and then reinstated days later on after the board that ousted him was replaced.

OpenAI has looked for to show Musk ´ s early assistance for the concept of making OpenAI a for-profit company so it could raise cash for the hardware and computer power that AI requires.

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

It was unclear Tuesday when the case might go to trial. Musk's attorneys at first said they would be ready by June after some back-and-forth with the two sides the judge showed it most likely won't be till June 2026 at the earliest, dokuwiki.stream but likely early 2027.

O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

-------