Recommendations of the Editorial team
Elon Musk has lost his high-profile legal battle against Sam Altman and OpenAI. A jury decided that the Tesla founder had simply filed the lawsuit too late, as the New York Times reports.
Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024 and accused Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman of improperly enriching themselves. He also accused OpenAI of violating its charitable obligations by building a for-profit business unit and accepting billions in investments from Microsoft – also named as a defendant. Musk founded OpenAI as a non-profit organization together with Altman in 2015, resigned from the board in 2018 and has no longer held shares in the company since then.
The jury took less than two hours to decide the three-week trial. She didn’t even get to examine the content of Musk’s allegations – she found that the lawsuit had been filed after the statute of limitations had expired.
Statute of limitations across the board
On the breach of contract charge, the jury found that Musk had failed to prove that he had no knowledge of OpenAI’s plans to transform into a for-profit company before 2021. According to NBC News, the court had evidence that he had been involved in relevant discussions since 2017. The jury also considered the two-year statute of limitations to have expired for the enrichment allegations. This decision also meant that Microsoft could not be held liable for alleged aid to OpenAI.
According to the Times, Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff has already signaled that his client will appeal. It is possible that Musk’s antitrust allegations against OpenAI and Microsoft could be heard in separate proceedings. The judge plans to discuss the matter with both sides on the same day, but had previously indicated that a second trial was unlikely given the lively competition in the AI market.
Meanwhile, OpenAI and Microsoft celebrated the victory extensively. OpenAI’s chief attorney William Savitt told reporters outside the courthouse that he was “thrilled” with the ruling, adding that if Musk appeals, “we’re very, very confident in our position.”
OpenAI’s position of power consolidated
Microsoft also released a statement: “The facts and timing of this case have long been clear, and we welcome the jury’s decision to dismiss these claims as time-barred.”
The ruling is likely to further cement OpenAI’s already dominant position in the tech and AI industry. If Musk had won, he would have been entitled to up to $150 billion in damages – and Altman might have been forced off the OpenAI board. That would have played a huge role in OpenAI’s competitors, including Musk’s own company xAI. Instead, Altman now retains broad control over OpenAI as the company heads toward a historic IPO and massively expands its data centers.
