Jury dismisses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman

A California jury has dismissed Elon Musk’s high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman.

In a unanimous verdict, the case was thrown out after jurors found that Musk had filed his claims after the statute of limitations had expired.

Musk had accused Altman of breaching a non-profit agreement by converting ChatGPT’s developer into a for-profit company following Musk’s $38 million donation.

Musk argued that Altman deceived him by accepting the funds and then abandoning OpenAI’s original non-profit mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

Jurors spent three weeks reviewing internal correspondence and hearing testimony, delivering the verdict on Monday after roughly two hours of deliberation.

Witnesses included Musk, Altman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whom Musk had accused of participating in the alleged scheme.

On the trial’s first day, Musk testified, wearing a dark suit and tie, and was asked by his attorney to explain the basis of the lawsuit.

“It’s actually very simple,” Musk said. “It’s not okay to steal a charity… If it’s okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving will be destroyed.”

However, Altman testified that Musk not only supported the idea of OpenAI becoming a for-profit entity but also wanted long-term control.

“A particularly hair-raising moment was when my co-founders asked, ‘If you have control, what happens when you die?’ He said something like, ‘maybe it should pass to my children,'” Altman told the jury.

Musk’s additional claims against Microsoft were dismissed as a matter of law based on the jury’s findings regarding the two claims against OpenAI.

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk departed in 2018 after his co-founders denied him control.

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