Jury selection starts on Monday at a federal courthouse in Oakland with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers overseeing the trial, which is expected to last two to three weeks. Musk's suit focuses on the formative years of OpenAI when he, Altman and others co-founded the company as a nonprofit. Musk alleges that Altman swindled him with the promise of a nonprofit, secured about $38m from Musk, then cashed in with Microsoft and for-profit affiliates. In his legal complaint, Musk described the case as a textbook tale of altruism versus greed and said the nonprofit pledge was all hot-air philanthropy – the hook for Altman's long con.
Altman and OpenAI counter that Musk is a sore loser who left the firm in 2018 and started his own rival AI business. The trial's outcome could affect OpenAI's planned initial public offering, expected later this year at about a $1tn valuation.
OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.
Separately, xAI, Musk's AI company, has filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado over a new AI law set to take effect in June. The Colorado law imposes new requirements on AI systems to protect residents from algorithmic discrimination in sectors like education, employment, healthcare, housing, and financial services. Colorado was the first state to pass a comprehensive bill to regulate AI. xAI claims the law infringes on its First Amendment free-speech protections and would force it to promote the state's ideological views on racial justice. Former xAI spokesperson Katie Miller heralded the lawsuit in a post on X, writing: 'Colorado wants to force Grok to follow its views on equity and race, instead of being maximally truth-seeking. Grok answers to evidence, not woke leftist government regulations.' Colorado's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, signed the bill into law in 2024 but said it was 'with reservations' and called for amendments. The law was intended to go into effect in February but was pushed until 30 June. xAI is seeking an injunction to block enforcement of the law and a court declaration that the legislation is unconstitutional. The Colorado attorney general's office declined to comment on the lawsuit.
xAI's chatbot Grok has consistently spewed racist, sexist and antisemitic content, put forth conspiracies of 'white genocide' and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler.' xAI merged with SpaceX earlier this year.
Colorado wants to force Grok to follow its views on equity and race, instead of being maximally truth-seeking. Grok answers to evidence, not woke leftist government regulations.