The trial, scheduled to begin April 28, will revisit the founding years of OpenAI a decade ago, its falling out with Musk and Microsoft Corp.’s subsequent $13 billion investment in the startup.
The jury will determine whether OpenAI’s other co-founders, [Sam] Altman and Greg Brockman, lied about their intentions to maintain a nonprofit structure when Musk initially donated $38 million to the startup. OpenAI has moved quickly in the past year to convert to a for-profit structure to allow for greater financial flexibility and investments.
Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft — a staggering amount, that if awarded, would be one of the largest verdicts in history. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied his allegations.
The judge shot down OpenAI’s planned attempt to undermine Musk’s credibility on the witness stand by asking him about his alleged use of ketamine during key negotiations with the company. She said those questions would be irrelevant unless OpenAI can provide more concrete evidence about the mind-altering effects of ketamine, an anesthetic drug that can have hallucinogenic properties.
[US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers] said she would allow limited questioning about Musk’s attendance at Burning Man, an annual festival in the Nevada desert where drug use is common. OpenAI’s attorneys said “a lot of significant communications” between Musk and OpenAI happened while he was at Burning Man.
The jury will determine whether OpenAI’s other co-founders, Altman and Greg Brockman, lied about their intentions to maintain a nonprofit structure when Musk initially donated $38 million to the startup. OpenAI has moved quickly in the past year to convert to a for-profit structure to allow for greater financial flexibility and investments.
Both parties will be required to pay for the jury’s lunch during the panel’s deliberations, a cost usually expensed by the court.
“You have plenty of money to pay for it,” she said.
Lambert here: Awesome.
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