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Stage Set for Elon Musk’s Court Battle with OpenAI

Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Stage Set for Elon Musk’s Court Battle with OpenAI

Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. (AFP)
Elon Musk looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC on November 19, 2025. (AFP)

Elon Musk's lawsuit accusing high-profile artificial intelligence company OpenAI of betraying its non-profit mission heads for trial on Monday with the selection of jurors.

The legal clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits the world's richest person against a startup Musk once backed and now competes with in the booming AI sector.

OpenAI's ChatGPT is a formidable rival to the chatbot Grok, made by Musk's xAI lab.

While Musk's lawsuit is part of a feud between him and OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, it spotlights a debate as to whether AI should ultimately serve to benefit a privileged few or society as a whole.

Court filings lay out how Altman convinced Musk to back OpenAI in 2015, acting as a co-founder for a non-profit lab whose technology "would belong to the world."

Musk pumped millions of dollars into the lab, which he subsequently left.

However, OpenAI established a commercial subsidiary as it needed hundreds of billions of dollars for data centers to power its technology.

Microsoft has poured billions of dollars into OpenAI and its CEO Satya Nadella is among those slated to testify at the trial.

Musk argues in his lawsuit that he was deceived about OpenAI's mission being altruistic.

San Francisco-based OpenAI has countered in court filings that its break-up with Musk was due to his quest for absolute control rather than its nonprofit status.

"This case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants," OpenAI said in a recent X post. "His lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign that's driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor."

The startup noted that days after Musk entered the AI race in 2023 he called for a six-month moratorium on development of advanced AI.

The judge presiding over the trial will decide by mid-May -- guided by an advisory jury's findings -- whether OpenAI broke a promise to Musk in a drive to lead in AI or just smartly rode the technology to glory.

Along with calling for OpenAI to be forced to revert to a pure nonprofit, Musk's suit urges the ouster of Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, who is startup president.

Musk, who had sought as much as $134 billion in damages, has since renounced any personal benefit, pledging to redirect any award to the OpenAI nonprofit. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has reserved the right to determine any remedies herself, without the jury's input.

OpenAI now has a hybrid governance structure giving its nonprofit foundation control over a for-profit arm.

Musk, who gutted the trust and safety team at Twitter after buying the social media platform that he renamed X, faces the challenge of convincing a jury and a judge that the company behind ChatGPT was built on a lie.

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Technology

Hotels Strive to Be Found as AI Models Conduct Travel Search

The rise of AI to plan and book travel will force hotels to make themselves visible when people describe what type of room they would like. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
The rise of AI to plan and book travel will force hotels to make themselves visible when people describe what type of room they would like. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
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Hotels Strive to Be Found as AI Models Conduct Travel Search

The rise of AI to plan and book travel will force hotels to make themselves visible when people describe what type of room they would like. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File
The rise of AI to plan and book travel will force hotels to make themselves visible when people describe what type of room they would like. JOEL SAGET / AFP/File

With people increasingly adopting AI to help plan their vacations, hotels are working to make sure that you check them out -- and check in.

Whether using ChatGPT or AI-enabled travel sites like Layla.ai, it is already possible to pose search questions like: "Calm hotel with west-facing balcony" or "Charming hotel with spa that accepts dogs".

This simple switch to plain speech searches belies major technical changes that mean hotels have to learn to become visible to AI models, AFP said.

"We're in complete upheaval: last year 35 percent of French people used artificial intelligence to find a hotel, a cafe or a restaurant," said Nicolas Marette, founder of Cust place, a French company that helps firms optimize their digital presence.

According to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), around 37 percent of travelers are already using AI-enabled online travel sites to plan and book trips.

Hospitality industry players have taken notice.

A quarter of hospitality firms "have an AI strategy that is starting to produce real returns across multiple organizational activities", according to the BCG report.

"What a hotel needs to do to get well referenced by search engines is not the same thing that they need to do to get referenced by artificial intelligence," said Johanna Benesty at BCG.

Moreover, not all AI models "work in the same way," she added.

- Plain speech, elaborate task -

At French hospitality group Accor, which owns dozens of chains including Pullman, Sofitel, Mercure and Ibis, "we've been trying for a year already to understand how to make ourselves more relevant... and be more visible," the group's AI and data science chief Nicolas Maynard told a recent industry conference.

But that can be a challenge as AI users see fewer options, meaning securing a top ranking becomes even more critical.

"It's a big change: with Google a search gives you 50 results... while if you ask ChatGPT it will give you five" and that is it, Maynard added.

The switch to plain speech means big changes for hotels.

"The biggest challenge is to understand vague requests like 'I want a romantic hotel in the south'," Maynard said.

Because Accor's systems do not currently classify properties by such attributes, the group has its work cut out.

"We need to adapt our systems to take semantics into account," Maynard said.

- Hyper detailed -

But beyond semantics, AI will allow hotels to provide customers with a wealth of information.

Best Western France's director Olivier Cohn said he believed "what will make the difference is our ability to answer client questions more thoroughly".

Hotels could respond to even the most detailed client questions such as "knowing if there is a power socket on the left side of the bed because they are used to sleeping on that side of the bed and charging their devices", he said.

While such questions are simple in and of themselves, current systems and staff can struggle to answer in such detail, said Cohn, whose chain counts more than 4,000 hotels throughout the world.

Some hotels are already deploying AI chatbots to help answer simple guest questions, allowing staff to provide higher-value services.

But winning the referencing game isn't only up to the hotels themselves.

BCG notes that "algorithms elevate properties with comprehensive, high-trust, multisource information over those with sparse or inconsistent digital footprints", meaning that client descriptions and reviews will also be important.

But just like online travel agencies (OTA) charge commissions and offer premium service for a price, AI models are already beginning to do the same.

"The familiar OTA commission model will evolve into AI-era distribution fees, charged for prominence and relevance in algorithmic recommendations," the BCG report said.

Technology

Google, Meta, TikTok Hit by EU Consumer Complaints about Handling of Financial Scams

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
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Google, Meta, TikTok Hit by EU Consumer Complaints about Handling of Financial Scams

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Meta is seen during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms and TikTok were hit with complaints from European Union consumer groups on Thursday for allegedly failing to protect users from financial scams on their platforms, putting them at risk of regulatory fines.

The move highlights growing pressure worldwide on Big Tech to do more to address the negative impacts of social media, particularly for children and vulnerable users.

The complaints, filed by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and 29 of its members in 27 European countries, were submitted to the European Commission and national regulators under the Digital Services Act, which requires large online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content, Reuters reported.

"Meta, TikTok and Google not only fail to proactively remove fraudulent ads but also do little when being notified about such scams," BEUC Director General Agustin Reyna said in a statement.

"If they fail to address the financial scams circulating on their platforms, fraudsters will continue to reach millions of European consumers daily, leaving people at risk of losing hundreds to thousands of euros to fraud," he said. Google and Meta rejected the complaints and said they work proactively to protect their users.

A Google spokesperson said: "We strictly enforce our ad policies, blocking over 99% of violating ads before they ever run. Our teams constantly update these defences to stay ahead of scammers and protect people."

Meta said it found and removed over 159 million scam ads last year, 92% before anyone reported them. "We invest in advanced AI, tools, and partnerships to stop them," a spokesperson said.

TikTok said it takes action against violations, adding that scams are an industry-wide challenge while bad actors constantly adapt their tactics.

The consumer groups, meanwhile, said they reported nearly 900 ads suspected of breaching EU laws between December last year and March this year but the platforms only took down 27% of the ads and 52% of the reports were rejected or ignored.

The groups urged regulators to investigate whether the companies were complying with the rules and to impose fines for breaches.

DSA fines can reach as much as 6% of a company's global annual turnover.

Technology

SDAIA Outlines Comprehensive Data Quality Journey to Support National AI Initiatives

The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA)
The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA)
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SDAIA Outlines Comprehensive Data Quality Journey to Support National AI Initiatives

The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA)
The Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA)

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) highlighted data quality as a critical foundation for enhancing information reliability, boosting performance, and enabling accurate business decisions, as part of its efforts during the Year of Artificial Intelligence 2026 to raise awareness about data importance.

The authority noted that high data quality serves as the cornerstone for sustainable national trust, integrated digital services, operational savings, entrepreneurship, and readiness for artificial intelligence applications, SPA reported.

SDAIA stated that the data quality journey spans five phases, beginning with a creation phase, where data is entered according to standardized criteria.

This is followed by a storage and organization phase to structure data and eliminate duplication, and an integration and sharing phase, which assesses quality before data is reused.

The journey continues through an analysis and use phase, where report accuracy is tied directly to source quality, and culminates in a continuous improvement phase, which utilizes analysis and user feedback to constantly refine data sets.

SDAIA called on organizations to adopt comprehensive data quality practices and strictly adhere to national regulations and standards. This includes integrated data quality planning, prioritizing initial assessments, developing data rules, and establishing clear performance indicators to measure improvement.

The authority also emphasized the importance of conducting periodic reviews and enabling users to report quality problems, which will ultimately maximize the efficiency of digital services and AI applications across the Kingdom.