Nine California jurors are now deciding the fate of OpenAI - the leading name in artificial intelligence in the world. And it is on them whether the company that gave the world ChatGPT remains what it is, or has to transform entirely.

Although the trial of Elon Musk against OpenAI and Microsoft has covered everything - from the founders' split in 2018 to the firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman in 2023 - the jury will answer three precise questions.

First: Did OpenAI and its co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman break the agreement with Musk that his donations would be used for a specific charitable purpose? Second: Did the defendants enrich themselves through the for-profit arm of OpenAI, instead of the money going to the charitable purpose? Third: Did Microsoft, through its ties with OpenAI, know that Musk had stipulations and play a meaningful role in the harm done to him?

OpenAI has three arguments of its own in defence. That the statute of limitations has run out. That Musk waited unreasonably before filing the suit in 2024. And that his conduct was "unclean hands" - while Musk himself was building parallel AI at Tesla, he was simultaneously chairman of OpenAI.

Musk's lawyers argue that the 10 billion dollar investment by Microsoft in 2023 in OpenAI's for-profit arm was the moment when concern turned into certainty. They say that investment enriched investors at the expense of the mission for safe AI - the very mission Musk financed when he was writing cheques to the foundation in 2015.

OpenAI's lawyers counter with the fact that all of Musk's donations had been spent by 2020 - before the critical dates for the lawsuit. And they ask: if everything was so problematic, why did Musk himself try to buy OpenAI through Tesla and put it under personal control? "Musk left OpenAI as a corpse in 2018," said Bill Savitt, OpenAI's lead lawyer.

If Musk wins, the end of OpenAI as a for-profit company is possible. But it is not entirely clear what happens next - the judge will hold further hearings next week where the consequences of a possible ruling for the plaintiff will be debated. This is a story that can move quickly from the courtroom into an earthquake for all of American artificial intelligence.

Musk, who has left and is already building his own AI company, is not fighting just for money. This is a fight over control of a technology many believe will define the next twenty years. And that is exactly why those nine jurors in California are holding a gate the entire tech industry is watching.