Elon Musk’s team revealed in court that they may open the door for xAI to acquire OpenAI, creating an avenue for an investigation.

According to Beating Monitoring, on the 4th day of the Musk v. OpenAI trial, another dramatic development took place after the jury left the courtroom. Musk’s longtime financial adviser Jared Birchall was asked about xAI leading the competitive bid for OpenAI’s nonprofit-entity assets, saying the $974 billion offer was intended to prevent Sam Altman from undervaluing the nonprofit assets during OpenAI’s restructuring.

The issue is that OpenAI’s lawyers then argued that Birchall’s understanding of the deal may have come mainly from attorneys, and that the related testimony should be excluded. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers personally questioned Birchall, challenging how he could bring in a $974 billion offer yet couldn’t explain who set the valuation or which people he specifically discussed it with. The Verge believes that by proactively bringing this topic into the trial, Musk’s lawyers may have instead given OpenAI the opportunity to continue investigating the materials behind xAI’s bid for OpenAI.