Elon Musk has lost his high-profile lawsuit against AI company OpenAI and its leadership in California.
The court jury found that Musk filed his lawsuit too late, causing all of the billionaire's claims to lapse due to statutes of limitations. The decision removes a significant legal threat to OpenAI's stock market listing, which is expected to happen as early as this year.
In the lawsuit that began in 2024, Musk demanded that OpenAI's transformation into a for-profit company be reversed and that its key leaders, including CEO Sam Altman and former chairman of the board Greg Brockman, be removed from the company's leadership. According to Musk, Altman and the other founders violated the company's original non-profit mission, which aimed to develop AI for the benefit of all humanity. Musk had donated a total of approximately 38 million dollars to OpenAI and claimed that his charitable funds had been practically "stolen" when operations were shifted to a for-profit structure.
According to international media reports, however, the jury focused primarily on a technical but crucial question when making its decision: when had Musk's alleged damages occurred, and had the lawsuit been filed within the legally required timeframe. OpenAI's lawyers largely built their defense on the statute of limitations argument, aiming to show that all damages claimed by Musk had arisen before 2021-2022, by which time the deadlines for Musk's claims would have already expired under California law. The jury found this interpretation credible and reached a verdict after only about two hours of deliberation.
The decision also means the collapse of Musk's claims against Microsoft. Since the jury dismissed Musk's two central lawsuits against OpenAI as time-barred, the claims concerning Microsoft automatically lapsed. Microsoft currently owns a significant portion of OpenAI.
Musk's camp does not intend to let the matter rest here. His lead attorney, Marc Toberoff, commented briefly after the trial that Musk intends to appeal the decision to a higher court (in the United States, a local court of appeals).
In the lawsuit that began in 2024, Musk demanded that OpenAI's transformation into a for-profit company be reversed and that its key leaders, including CEO Sam Altman and former chairman of the board Greg Brockman, be removed from the company's leadership. According to Musk, Altman and the other founders violated the company's original non-profit mission, which aimed to develop AI for the benefit of all humanity. Musk had donated a total of approximately 38 million dollars to OpenAI and claimed that his charitable funds had been practically "stolen" when operations were shifted to a for-profit structure.
According to international media reports, however, the jury focused primarily on a technical but crucial question when making its decision: when had Musk's alleged damages occurred, and had the lawsuit been filed within the legally required timeframe. OpenAI's lawyers largely built their defense on the statute of limitations argument, aiming to show that all damages claimed by Musk had arisen before 2021-2022, by which time the deadlines for Musk's claims would have already expired under California law. The jury found this interpretation credible and reached a verdict after only about two hours of deliberation.
The decision also means the collapse of Musk's claims against Microsoft. Since the jury dismissed Musk's two central lawsuits against OpenAI as time-barred, the claims concerning Microsoft automatically lapsed. Microsoft currently owns a significant portion of OpenAI.
Musk's camp does not intend to let the matter rest here. His lead attorney, Marc Toberoff, commented briefly after the trial that Musk intends to appeal the decision to a higher court (in the United States, a local court of appeals).
