Instant View: California jury sides with OpenAI over Musk lawsuit
A federal jury in Oakland, California, on Monday ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI and its top executives. The jury found that Musk had filed his case too late, missing the deadline for the statute of limitations.
The unanimous verdict was reached after less than two hours of deliberation. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the advisory verdict as the court's own and dismissed Musk's claims.
Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, had accused the artificial intelligence company of betraying its original mission. He alleged that OpenAI had strayed from a shared vision for it to guide AI development as a nonprofit dedicated to humanity's benefit.
OpenAI, which launched in 2015, later developed ChatGPT. Musk's lawsuit claimed the company's shift to a for-profit model, and its partnership with Microsoft, diverged from its founding principles.
During the trial, each side accused the other of being more interested in financial gain than in serving the public. A Microsoft executive testified that the company has spent more than $100 billion on its partnership with OpenAI, according to CBC News.
Musk, the world's richest man, had sought damages to be paid to the altruistic efforts of OpenAI’s charitable arm. He also aimed for the ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman from the company's board.
Musk stated he was responding to deceptive conduct that OpenAI’s board identified when it fired Altman as CEO in 2023, before Altman was reinstated days later.
Judge Rogers commented on the jury's decision, stating, "There's a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury's finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot," CBC News reported.