The jury ruled against SpaceXAI and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman, finding that his claims were barred by the statute of limitations after less than two hours of deliberation.
The unanimous verdict, delivered Monday, in a federal court in Oakland, California, cleared Altman, Brockman, OpenAI, and Microsoft of all allegations, with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepting the advisory jury’s decision and dismissing the case.
Musk’s lawsuit, filed in 2024, alleged that Altman and Brockman betrayed a founding agreement to keep OpenAI a nonprofit dedicated to advancing AI for humanity’s benefit. He claimed they improperly shifted the company to a for-profit model with Microsoft, effectively "stealing a charity" after he contributed $38 million in early funding. The SpaceXAI CEO sought up to $134 billion in damages, the removal of Altman and Brockman, and the dissolution of OpenAI’s for-profit arm.
However, the defense successfully argued that Musk knew about OpenAI’s transition as early as 2021, making his 2024 lawsuit untimely under the three-year statute of limitations. Testimony from Musk, Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and former board member Shivon Zilis revealed deep rifts over control and mission, but the jury focused on procedural grounds rather than the case’s merits.
OpenAI’s legal team called the suit a "hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor," referencing Musk’s own AI venture, xAI (now SpaceXAI). Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed plans to appeal the decision.
“I have a one-word reaction: Appeal. This war is not over," Toberoff told reporters. "We firmly believe what happened with OpenAI was wrong on a very basic level that you can't raise millions of dollars in a publicly subsidized charity, and when it suits you, just turn into a for-profit operation where the officers and directors of the charity enrich themselves to the tune of billions, and that's what actually happened here, and that's just wrong."
Commenting on the jury decision, Musk wrote on X: "Regarding the OpenAI case, the judge & jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality. There is no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity. The only question is WHEN they did it! I will be filing an appeal with the Ninth Circuit, because creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America. OpenAI was founded to benefit all of humanity."
Musk also wrote in another post: "This illustrates why the ruling by the terrible activist Oakland judge, who simply used the jury as a fig leaf, creates such a terrible precedent. She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!"
