Oakland: A federal court jury in California has ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit targeting Sam Altman and OpenAI, finding that Musk waited too long to bring the case to court. According to CNN, the jury concluded that the statute of limitations had expired, preventing the claims from moving forward.
The verdict was advisory, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she agreed with the jury’s assessment. “The court now confirms the prior indication that it would accept the jury’s findings as its own. “I think that there’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” she said in court, as per CNN.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and reportedly contributed around USD 18 million during the organisation’s early years, filed the lawsuit in February 2024 against Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and the company itself. The lawsuit accused OpenAI of abandoning its original nonprofit mission after creating a for-profit structure tied to its artificial intelligence business operations.
In court, Musk criticised the company’s direction and financial transformation. “I was a fool. I gave them free funding to create a startup,” Musk told the court, according to CNN.
OpenAI’s legal team rejected Musk’s allegations and maintained that the organisation’s core mission remains unchanged. Attorneys for the company argued that OpenAI still operates under the supervision of a nonprofit foundation board despite its business restructuring and commercial partnerships.
The company also argued that Musk’s legal action came only after he launched his own artificial intelligence venture, xAI, which directly competes with OpenAI in the rapidly expanding AI industry. According to CNN, jurors determined that Musk had been aware of the issues raised in the lawsuit since at least 2021, weakening his argument for filing the case years later.
Following the ruling, OpenAI attorney William Savitt defended the company’s position. “The finding of the jury confirms that what this lawsuit was was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor. The fact is that OpenAI is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organisation that has been and will continue to be faithful to that mission,” Savitt said after the verdict.
