California jury tosses Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI

The jury on Monday dismissed tech billionaire Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. The unanimous decision found that Musk waited too long to bring the lawsuit and failed to file a claim within the three-year statute of limitations. A judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accepted the jury’s verdict and tossed out the case. Musk and Altman were two of the 11 people who cofounded the company in 2015 as a nonprofit. Musk’s X social media platform contains an AI product called Grok.

Musk sued OpenAI in 2024, accusing the company of breaking its promise to remain not-for-profit. Musk alleged that OpenAI feigned selfless public interest to gain his financial support, and then later developed a for-profit subsidiary. He also sued Microsoft, claiming that it aided and abetted OpenAI’s for-profit operation through large investments. The jury similarly rejected Musk’s claims against Microsoft on statute-of-limitations grounds. The decision followed a three-week trial.

Will Musk appeal the verdict? The billionaire said in a social media post that he will appeal the ruling. He added that the judge and jury never ruled on the merits of the case, but rather on a calendar technicality. He accused Altman of enriching himself by stealing a charity organization.

OpenAI attorney Bill Savitt said after the verdict that the lawsuit was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor. Speaking outside the courtroom, Savitt noted that the jury took less than two hours of deliberation to reach a decision. Microsoft welcomed the jury’s decision in a statement, adding that the facts and the timeline of the case have long been clear.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on the jury selection for this high-stakes case.