Elon Musk suffered it was the worst possible defeat in his legal battle with OpenAI, which a federal jury and judge ruled he waited too long to bring claims against the AI startup and its executives, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
The jury’s decision was a nonbinding recommendation sent to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, but on Monday she immediately adopted it as her own, making it final.
The nine-member panel reached a unanimous verdict in an Oakland, California, courtroom after deliberating for less than two hours. They determined that the statute of limitations had expired well before Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024. Musk hoped to convince a jury that Altman and Brockman, with the lend a hand of Microsoft cash, had turned OpenAI into a massive company far beyond what was imagined when the three and others founded it as a nonprofit nearly 11 years ago.
Because the jury found the case was not timely brought, it did not uphold three of Musk’s claims, including breach of trust of the charity, unjust enrichment and, against Microsoft, aiding and abetting.
Musk, Altman and Brockman were not present when the jury announced its verdict. Elon Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, commented in one word to reporters leaving the courtroom: “Appeal.” OpenAI’s lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.
But William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI, said last week that Musk’s lawsuit and the resulting trial were a “brilliantly” executed “concert of hypocrisy.” Musk, following a court order not to tweet during the trial, has said little on the subject in recent weeks.
Despite the disappointing semifinal for Musk, the trial appears to have tarnished the public image of OpenAI and its executives. Fresh details have emerged about Brockman’s wealth and Altman’s alleged history of dishonesty. Both were also taken away from their daily work for dozens, if not hundreds of hours to conduct depositions, prepare to testify, sit as witnesses and show their faces in court.
Musk spent much less time in the courtroom than OpenAI’s executives, about three days, and then never returned. He even flew to China last week for President Donald Trump’s state visit, although he could technically be called back to testify at low notice. “I will say it was a surprise to us,” Savitt told the media last week. “Instead of being in the jurisdiction where he filed suit, ready to stand before the jurors he caused to be beaten, [he] I decided to get on Air Force One and fly to China.
While the case carried financial and emotional risks, it was also a daring competition between two tech billionaires who broke off a brief partnership of convenience over an alleged leadership dispute to ultimately pursue remarkably similar visions for a future of generative artificial intelligence. Musk’s offer to settle the lawsuit just before the trial begins was rejected.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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