Elon Musk loses lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI

A California jury of 9 unanimously ruled that Elon Musk's claims exceeded the statute of limitations.

Musk had sued Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI, and Microsoft, claiming they "stole a charity" by creating a for-profit subsidiary within the nonprofit AI research lab. The jury determined that all the harms Musk claimed had occurred before the legal filing deadline (2021-2022).

The trial covered OpenAI's dramatic history and testimony from key Silicon Valley figures, but ultimately came down to a narrow legal issue: when exactly Altman and others broke their promises. Deliberations took less than 2 hours.

The ruling removes the possibility of a corporate restructuring, which had been one of the major threats facing OpenAI, giving a green light to its reported IPO plans.

OpenAI's attorney Bill Savitt stated that "Musk's lawsuit is a hypocritical attempt to hinder a competitor." Musk tweeted that "it's obvious that Altman and Brockman exploited a charity to build their wealth. The only question is when," and announced he would appeal to the Ninth Circuit.

Musk's expert witness estimated OpenAI and Microsoft's unjust enrichment at $78.8 billion to $135 billion, but the judge noted that this analysis was "detached from the facts."