Welcome back to, TIME's new twice-weekly newsletter about AI. If you're reading this in your browser, why not subscribe to have the next one delivered straight to your inbox? What to Know: Musk v. Altman Two artificial intelligence heavyweights will face off in court this spring, in a case that could have far-reaching outcomes for the future of AI. A judge ruled on Thursday that Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman, Microsoft, and other OpenAI co-founders can proceed to a jury trial, dismissing OpenAI's attempts to get the case thrown out. The lawsuit relates to the early days of OpenAI, which started as a nonprofit that was funded by around $38 million in donations from Musk.

Welcome back to, TIME's new twice-weekly newsletter about AI. If you're reading this in your browser, why not subscribe to have the next one delivered straight to your inbox? The three most valuable private companies in the U.S. have big reputations: OpenAI, SpaceX, and Anthropic. But the fourth, Databricks, flies a little more under the radar. This company, which is currently raising funds at a valuation of $134 billion according to reports this week, is a quiet workhorse of the AI revolution.

Booth is a reporter at TIME. Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Google about preparing students and workers for the next generation of technology, in San Francisco, California, on August 7, 2025. Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at Google about preparing students and workers for the next generation of technology, in San Francisco, California, on August 7, 2025. Booth is a reporter at TIME. CEOs of the companies racing to build smarter AI--Google DeepMind, OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic--have been clear about the stakes.

In the latest development in an ongoing struggle over OpenAI's future direction--and potentially the future of artificial intelligence itself--dozens of prominent figures are urging the Attorneys General of California and Delaware to block OpenAI's controversial plan to convert from its unique nonprofit-controlled structure to a for-profit company. In a letter made public April 23, signatories including "AI Godfather" Geoffrey Hinton, Harvard legal professor Lawrence Lessig, and several former OpenAI researchers argue the move represents a fundamental betrayal of OpenAI's founding mission. "The proposed restructuring would eliminate essential safeguards, effectively handing control of, and profits from, what could be the most powerful technology ever created to a for-profit entity with legal duties to prioritize shareholder returns," the letter's authors write. It lands as OpenAI faces immense pressure from the other side: failing to implement the restructure by the end of the year could cost the company 20 billion and hamstring future fundraising. OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a non-profit, with its stated mission being to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) "benefits all of humanity" rather than advancing "the private gain of any person."

By March 2019, OpenAI shed its non-profit status and set up a "capped profit" sector, in which the company could now receive investments and would provide investors with profit capped at 100 times their investment. The company's decision was likely a result of its desire to compete with Big Tech rivals like Google and ended up receiving a $1 billion investment shortly after from Microsoft. In the blog post announcing the formation of a for-profit company, OpenAI continued to use the same language we see today, declaring its mission to "ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity." As Motherboard wrote when the news was first announced, it's incredibly difficult to believe that venture capitalists can save humanity when their main goal is profit.