OpenAI trial live updates: Opening arguments in Musk v. Altman lawsuit set to begin

The report raises concerns about the company’s ability to support spending plans for its massive AI datacenter buildout, which is tied to technology giants such as Oracle and Nvidia. Shares of chip companies are lower on Tuesday following the report, dragging down the Nasdaq Composite.

OpenAI recently closed a massive $122 billion funding round at a $852 billion valuation.

— Samantha Subin

As part of a revamped deal, OpenAI can cap the amount of revenue it shares with Microsoft when it comes to ChatGPT — and other — subscriptions. It will also be able to serve its products across any cloud provider. 

The agreement is the latest sign that the two companies are going their own way. In 2024, Microsoft started calling OpenAI a competitor in its financial filings, and the two frenemies have since found themselves battling in various areas.

— Ari Levy

Gonzalez Rogers was appointed by former President Barack Obama to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2011. 

She has overseen several high-profile lawsuits involving technology companies, including the 2021 antitrust case between Epic Games and Apple. 

During jury selection on Monday, Gonzalez Rogers was firm and made it clear that she intends to stick to a schedule. She cracked a few jokes, seemingly in an effort to make prospective jurors feel more comfortable.

Gonzalez Rogers got her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1987, and her law degree from the University of Texas in 1991.

—Ashley Capoot

Musk and Altman were close friends when they were among a group of techies who started OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit lab, “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.” 

Three years later, Musk was out, after a failed effort to acquire OpenAI at his electric vehicle company Tesla. Then, in late 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, and the commercialization race was on. Already backed by Microsoft, OpenAI raised tens of billions of dollars at valuations that have stretched far into the hundreds of billions.

Musk, for his part, founded xAI in 2023 to try and build a competitor to OpenAI, before suing Altman and the lab he helped start the next year.

Since the suit was filed, the two sides have been engaged in a bitter and public war of words, with Musk referring to his ex-friend as “Scam Altman,” and Altman posting in February that he was, “Really excited to get Elon under oath in a few months, Christmas in April!”

— Ari Levy

Nine jurors were seated for the trial after several hours of questioning on Monday.

Gonzalez Rogers and lawyers for both parties asked prospective jurors about their views on AI, Altman and Musk. Many said they were not familiar with OpenAI or its executives but expressed dislike for Musk, particularly because of his political activities. 

Musk spent more than $250 million to help President Donald Trump win the 2024 election. He also served a chaotic stint as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which aimed to dramatically slash government waste and spending. 

“The reality is people don’t like him,” Gonzalez Rogers said during the proceedings on Monday. She said she is confident that the jurors who were seated will respect the judicial process and the facts of the case.

— Ashley Capoot