A federal judge just rejected OpenAI and Microsoft’s requests to dismiss the massive lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, as per TechCrunch. That means the two tech giants are officially heading to a jury trial in late April in an Oakland courtroom, forcing them to duke it out over claims that the original mission of OpenAI was betrayed.
While OpenAI is the primary target in this case, the judge definitely dragged Microsoft right into the middle of the legal drama. This ruling isn’t just about whether OpenAI broke its promises; the jury will now decide if Microsoft actually knowingly helped OpenAI ditch its original nonprofit mission. That’s a serious claim, and frankly, it sounds awful for Microsoft’s reputation, especially as they try to position themselves as the leader in ethical AI development.
If you’ve been following the AI race, you know this story reads like a pure tech soap opera. It all started back in 2015 when Musk, Sam Altman, and several others co-founded OpenAI. They started it as a nonprofit with really ambitious, charitable goals, intending to ensure that AI development would benefit all of humanity, not just shareholders. Those fuzzy feelings definitely didn’t last. Musk walked away and then started his own rival company, xAI, in 2023.
Musk claims his former partners completely betrayed that original mission when they restructured as a for-profit entity and took billions of dollars from Microsoft
The relationship between all the parties has completely curdled. Musk and Altman have gone from collaborators to absolute arch enemies. OpenAI, for its part, has dismissed Musk’s lawsuit as completely baseless and just an act of harassment meant to slow down their progress in the AI race. What’s interesting is that even though OpenAI and Microsoft are still business partners, they are increasingly competing head-to-head in the AI market, adding another layer of tension to this whole legal mess.
The judge found enough solid evidence to let a jury consider whether OpenAI actually broke those initial nonprofit commitments. There’s a big twist here that involves Microsoft’s narrow escape, though. The judge actually dismissed Musk’s specific claim that Microsoft unjustly enriched itself at his expense. So, Microsoft dodged that massive financial bullet. However, they aren’t totally safe.
The judge kept the door wide open for the jury to decide on the far more damaging accusation: did Microsoft knowingly participate in breaking OpenAI’s original promises? The fact that the judge is allowing a jury to consider whether Microsoft was an active participant in this alleged betrayal is a massive headache for the tech giant. Microsoft has invested billions into OpenAI, and their entire future AI strategy is tied up in this partnership. Notably, Disney also announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI.
If a jury decides they knowingly facilitated a breach of commitment, it could open them up to a new wave of intense scrutiny and potential legal repercussions far beyond this single lawsuit. While they successfully booted the unjust enrichment claim, the damage to their public image and the stability of their core AI partnership could be much worse, especially after recent cases of consumer frustration due to shoddy feature implementations.
Published: Jan 16, 2026 03:00 pm