{"id":124809,"date":"2026-04-25T21:59:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=124809"},"modified":"2026-04-25T21:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:59:24","slug":"billionaire-elon-musk-enters-courtroom-showdown-with-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Web Desk(National Times)- Jury selection is to begin on Monday in a high-profile legal battle between billionaire Elon Musk and artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which he accuses of betraying its non-profit mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits the world\u2019s richest man<\/a> against a startup that Musk once backed and now competes against in the booming AI sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT is a formidable rival to the Grok chatbot<\/a> made by Musk\u2019s xAI lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the lawsuit filed by Musk is part of a feud<\/a> between him and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, it spotlights a debate over whether AI should ultimately benefit the privileged few or society as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Court filings lay out how Altman tried to convince Musk to back OpenAI in 2015, acting as a co-founder for a non-profit lab whose technology \u201cwould belong to the world\u201d. Musk pumped some $38 million into the lab before he left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI is now valued at $852 billion, with Microsoft<\/a> among its backers, and is preparing to go public on the stock market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judge presiding over the trial is aiming for a jury to decide by late May whether OpenAI broke a promise to Musk in its drive to be a leader in AI or just smartly rode the technology to glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Musk duped?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Musk argues in his lawsuit that he was deceived about OpenAI\u2019s mission being altruistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tycoon cites an email from Altman in 2017 claiming that he remained \u201centhusiastic about the non-profit structure\u201d of their AI venture after Musk threatened to cut off funding for the lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few months later, however, OpenAI established a commercial subsidiary in the face of needing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in data centres to power its technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of the following two years, Microsoft pumped billions of dollars into OpenAI and the tech stalwart\u2019s stake in the startup is now valued about $135bn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella is among those slated to testify at the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Aimed at Altman<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Along with calling for OpenAI to be forced to revert to a pure nonprofit, Musk\u2019s suit urges the ousting of Altman and OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk is also seeking as much as $134bn in damages and to have the court make OpenAI sever ties with Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During pre-trial hearings, US Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers mused that Musk team seemed to be \u201cpulling numbers out of the air\u201d when it came to calculating damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the jury sides with Musk, it will be left to Rogers to determine any remedies or payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what OpenAI has dismissed as a public relations stunt, Musk has vowed that any damages awarded in the suit will go to the startup\u2019s nonprofit foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Quest for control?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI internal communications brought to light by the lawsuit reveal tensions that culminated with the temporary ouster of Altman as AI chief executive in late 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musk\u2019s legal team highlighted a 2017 entry in Brockman\u2019s personal journal reasoning that it would be lying if Altman publicly asserted OpenAI would stay a nonprofit but became a corporation a short time later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OpenAI now has a hybrid governance structure, giving its nonprofit foundation control over a for-profit arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In court filings, OpenAI countered that its breakup with Musk was due to his quest for absolute control rather than its nonprofit status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants,\u201d OpenAI said in a post on X, a platform Musk owns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign that\u2019s driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The startup noted that days after Musk entered the AI race in 2023 he called for a 6-month moratorium on development of advanced AI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Web Desk(National Times)- Jury selection is to begin on Monday in a high-profile legal battle between billionaire Elon Musk and artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which he accuses of betraying its non-profit mission. The clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits the world\u2019s richest man against a startup that Musk once backed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nBillionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web Desk(National Times)- Jury selection is to begin on Monday in a high-profile legal battle between billionaire Elon Musk and artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which he accuses of betraying its non-profit mission. The clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits the world\u2019s richest man against a startup that Musk once backed and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T16:59:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-25T16:59:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-27-8.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/\",\"name\":\"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-27-8.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-25T16:59:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-25T16:59:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-27-8.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-670x370-27-8.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124809\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Billionaire Elon Musk enters courtroom showdown with OpenAI - Nation","og_description":"Web Desk(National Times)- Jury selection is to begin on Monday in a high-profile legal battle between billionaire Elon Musk and artificial intelligence (AI) startup OpenAI, which he accuses of betraying its non-profit mission. 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