Elon Musk and Sam Altman in court

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are ready to face a high-stakes trial revolving around the alleged fraud and unbridled ambition that clouded the billionaires' once shared vision for the development of artificial intelligence.

The trial, which began Monday with jury selection, focuses on the birth of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, in 2015 as a nonprofit startup funded primarily by Musk, before evolving into a company now valued at $852 billion.

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The outcome of the trial could affect the balance of power in Artificial Intelligence, a technology that many see as a potential job killer and an existential threat to the survival of humanity. Those risks are among the reasons Musk, the world's richest man, cited for filing the lawsuit in August 2024, which will now be decided by a jury and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California.

The lawsuit accuses Altman, OpenAI's CEO, and its senior executive, Greg Brockman, of causing trouble for Musk by deviating from the San Francisco company's founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology.

The lawsuit alleges they were turned into a profit-making operation behind his back. OpenAI rejects Musk's claims as a baseless case aimed at undermining its rapid growth and boosting its own xAI, which it launched in 2023 as a competitor.

Gonzalez Rogers asked jurors Monday about their opinions on Musk, Altman and artificial intelligence. Some jurors said they had negative opinions about Musk, but most said they could be fair and focus on the facts of the case. During jury selection, several prospective jurors expressed negative opinions about Elon Musk, but Judge Rogers rejected Musk's lawyer's attempts to dissuade them, saying that disliking Musk does not automatically mean someone cannot be fair.

The court is selecting nine jurors and the case is expected to be completed by May 21, when it will be referred to the jury. Opening statements will follow today, April 28.

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