Elon Musk and OpenAI Agree to Accelerated Trial Over For-Profit Transition

A federal court filing revealed Elon Musk and OpenAI have agreed on an expedited trial over the startup’s for-profit transition. The first court session will take place in December 8th.

According to Reuters, the document, filed on Friday at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, states that OpenAI and the billionaire will have a trial in December. It is yet to be determined whether a jury or just the judge will make a final decision.

Elon Musk and OpenAI have proposed an expedited trial in December 2025 over issues in OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit to a for-profit. Excited to see Elon and Sam testify… pic.twitter.com/RULUcMLJxf

— Anna Tong (@annatonger) March 15, 2025

Since 2024 Musk has been trying to block OpenAI’s for-profit shift and has used multiple legal strategies to hinder the development of the company he co-founded in 2015—but left in 2018.

In February 2024 he filed a lawsuit against cofounders Greg Brockman and Sam Altman for breaching the startup’s original non-profit mission but dropped it in June before the hearing.

Later, in November 2024, he filed an injunction against OpenAI and Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, adding new accusations. A federal judge denied Musk’s request on March 4 but suggested an expedited trial now officially accepted by both parties.

“Our Board has been very clear⁠ that we intend to strengthen the non-profit so that it can deliver on its mission for the long term,” shared OpenAI in a public statement on its website on Friday. “We’re not selling it, we’re doubling down on its work.

Musk, and a group of investors, also tried to acquire OpenAI’s non profit assets by placing a bid for $96.7 billion in February, increasing tensions among stakeholders. Altman rejected the offer publicly, on Musk’s social media platform X.

OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in its latest funding round in October 2024, reaching a $157 billion valuation. It is currently under discussion for a new $40 billion investment led by SoftBank Group where a condition to remove the non-profit control has been placed.