Elon Musk has lost his major legal battle against OpenAI. A federal jury in Oakland, California, ruled in favour of OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman after concluding that Musk waited too long to bring claims accusing the company of abandoning its original non-profit mission. The unanimous decision came after less than two hours of jury deliberation and effectively shields OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and partner Microsoft from liability in a case that challenged how the ChatGPT maker changed from a non-profit research lab into a commercial AI business.
Following the verdict, Musk’s legal team immediately signaled that they are considering an appeal, arguing that the decision on timing and limitation rules should be revisited. However, the judge overseeing the case, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, strongly indicated in court that overturning the outcome would be difficult. She stressed that the jury’s conclusion rested on factual determinations about when Musk became aware of OpenAI’s shift toward commercialization and whether he waited too long to sue. According to her, there was substantial evidence presented during the trial supporting the jury’s view, which is why she would be prepared to uphold such a finding rather than intervene against it.
The judge made it clear during the proceedings that the statute of limitations was a key issue in the case and could likely decide the outcome. Notably, the trial was structured in a way that if the jury found Musk had waited too long to file the lawsuit, the case would end at that point. In that situation, the court would not move forward to examine the deeper allegations, like whether OpenAI broke any promises, misused donations, or acted unfairly. Judge Gonzalez Rogers had previously noted that most of the disputed events – including Musk’s departure from OpenAI’s board in 2018, the shift toward a for-profit structure, and early investment agreements with Microsoft – occurred years before the lawsuit was filed in 2024, which made timing a critical barrier for Musk’s claims.
The case centered on Musk’s allegation that OpenAI, which he co-founded in 2015 with Sam Altman and others, deviated from its founding mission as a non-profit research lab intended to develop AI for public benefit. Musk, who reportedly contributed about $38 million during OpenAI’s early years, argued that the organization’s later shift into a capped-profit structure and its deep financial partnership with Microsoft represented a betrayal of that mission. Musk sought damages estimated between $134 billion and $180 billion and also demanded structural remedies, including removing Altman and Brockman from leadership positions and reversing OpenAI’s for-profit transition.
During the trial, OpenAI’s defense argued that Musk’s lawsuit was not only delayed but also inconsistent with his own actions and knowledge at the time. They claimed internal communications and early investment discussions showed that scaling advanced AI required external capital long before ChatGPT’s release transformed the industry. The defense also pointed to Musk’s later creation of his competing AI company xAI as evidence of commercial rivalry, suggesting the lawsuit was driven partly by competition rather than purely governance concerns.
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Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
