(Updates to add latest events related to OpenAI)

May 5 (Reuters) -

ChatGPT creator OpenAI said it would

remain

under the control of its nonprofit parent, following a

storm of criticism and legal challenges, including a

high-profile lawsuit filed by rival and co-founder Elon Musk.

OpenAI is still pushing ahead with plans to change the

structure of its for-profit arm to allow more capital-raising to

keep pace in the artificial intelligence race.

Below is a timeline of important events related to the

startup at the heart of the AI boom, since its inception:

Date Event

December 11, Tech executives including Musk and Altman

2015 announce the launch of OpenAI, pouring in $1

billion to create the AI firm

2018 OpenAI announces that Musk is leaving its

board

2019 OpenAI creates for-profit arm to help raise

funds from investors

Nov. 17, OpenAI board fires CEO Altman and President

2023 Greg Brockman quits. Mira Murati named as

interim CEO

Nov. 18, Altman's firing was over a "breakdown in

2023 communication between Sam and the board," and

not "malfeasance", COO Brad Lightcap says in

an internal memo

Nov. 20, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the Windows

2023 maker has hired Altman, Brockman and their

colleagues to lead a new advanced AI research

team

OpenAI appoints former Twitch boss Emmett

Shear as interim CEO. Shear pledges probe into

Altman's exit.

Nearly all OpenAI staff threaten to quit and

join Altman at Microsoft, demanding board

resign and Altman and Brockman are reinstated

Nov. 21, OpenAI says Altman will return as CEO with a

2023 new initial board. Brockman will also return

Nov. 29, Altman says Microsoft will take a non-voting,

2023 observer position on OpenAI's board

Dec. 13, Axel Springer partners with OpenAI in a

2023 first-of-its-kind deal to deliver summaries of

the global news publisher's content

Dec. 27, The New York Times sues OpenAI and

2023 Microsoft, accusing them of using the

newspaper's articles without permission to

train chatbots

Jan. 25, The FTC orders OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet

2024 , Amazon and Anthropic to

provide information on recent investments and

partnerships as it scrutinizes tech deals

Feb. 16, OpenAI completes a deal that values it at $80

2024 billion or more, according to media reports

March 1, Musk sues OpenAI and Altman, saying they

2024 abandoned the startup's original mission to

develop AI for the benefit of humanity

March 8, Altman returns to the OpenAI board along with

2024 three new directors

May 14, 2024 OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya

Sutskever leaves the company

June 10, OpenAI hires Sarah Friar, former CEO of social

2024 media firm Nextdoor , as its first CFO

June 11, Musk moves to dismiss his lawsuit against

2024 OpenAI and Altman

July 10, Microsoft gives up its board observer seat at

2024 OpenAI

August 5, Musk revives lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI

2024

September OpenAI's three top technical leaders,

25, 2024 including CTO Mira Murati, quit the company

October 2, OpenAI raises $6.6 billion, valuing the

2024 company at $157 billion

December 27, OpenAI says it plans to revamp its for-profit

2024 arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC) to

ease the restrictions imposed by its current

non-profit parent

January 14, Private equity veteran Adebayo Ogunlesi, CEO

2025 of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), joins

OpenAI's board

January 21, OpenAI plans joint venture with SoftBank and

2025 Oracle to build up to $500 billion of

new AI data centers in the United States

Microsoft changes its exclusive deal terms

with OpenAI to allow the company to build

additional data center capacity, paving the

way for the JV

January 22, OpenAI and SoftBank say they will each commit

2025 $19 billion to fund Stargate, a joint venture

to develop data centers for AI in the U.S

January 30, SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding

2025 round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a

valuation of $300 billion, including new

funds, sources say

February 10, A consortium led by Musk offers to buy the

2025 nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4

billion.

February 11, OpenAI's board has not received Musk's

2025 takeover bid, source says

February 13, Consortium led by Musk will

2025 withdraw its bid for OpenAI's non-profit arm

if the startup drops plans to become a

for-profit entity, Musk's lawyers say

February 14, OpenAI

2025 rejects

Musk's bid for the ChatGPT maker,

saying the startup is not for sale and that

any future bid would be disingenuous

March 4, A U.S. judge

2025 denies

Musk's request for a preliminary

injunction to pause OpenAI's transition to a

for-profit model but agrees to a fast-track

trial in the fall of this year

March 5, Britain

2025 drops

its probe into Microsoft's

partnership with OpenAI

March 15, OpenAI and Musk

2025 agree

to fast-track a trial over

for-profit shift

March 28, OpenAI must

2025 transition

to a for-profit company by the

end of the year to secure the full $40 billion

funding led by SoftBank, a source says

April 1, OpenAI officially

2025 announces

raising up to $40 billion in a

new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a

$300 billion valuation

April 4, Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will

2025 go to a jury trial in spring 2026, federal

judge presiding over the case

decides

April 9, OpenAI

2025 countersues

Musk, citing a pattern of

harassment by him

April 15, OpenAI

2025 names

members to its newly formed

nonprofit commission, which will guide the

company's philanthropic efforts

April 16, OpenAI in

2025 discussions

to buy AI-assisted coding tool

Windsurf for about $3 billion - report

May 5, 2025 OpenAI says it would remain under

the control of its nonprofit parent, while

pushing ahead with plans to change the

structure of its for-profit arm

(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Arsheeya Bajwa, Zaheer Kachwala,

Kritika Lamba and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing

by Sriraj Kalluvila, Rosalba O'Brien and Shinjini Ganguli)