Silicon Valley’s messiest breakup is definitely headed to court

OpenAI and Microsoft tried to dodge a courtroom showdown with Elon Musk, but a federal judge wasn’t having it - on Thursday she rejected their dismissal requests and set the case for a jury trial in late April, meaning they’ll officially duke it out in an Oakland courtroom, with Microsoft also dragged into the legal battle. The backstory reads like a tech soap opera. Musk and Sam Altman co-founded OpenAI with others in 2015 as a nonprofit with lofty charitable goals. But those fuzzy feelings didn’t last - Musk left and in 2023 started his own AI company, xAI, and now claims his former partners betrayed their mission by taking billions from Microsoft and restructuring as a for-profit. The relationships have seemingly curdled across the board. OpenAI and Microsoft remain business partners but increasingly compete head-to-head in AI. Meanwhile, Musk and Altman have gone from collaborators to arch enemies, with OpenAI dismissing Musk’s lawsuit as “baseless” and “harassment” and an attempt to slow it down. The judge found enough evidence to let a jury decide whether OpenAI broke its nonprofit commitments. A jury will also now decide whether Microsoft knowingly helped OpenAI break its promises, though the judge dismissed Musk’s claim that Microsoft unjustly enriched itself at his expense.

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