Musk loses – A jury in Oakland, California cleared Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI of Elon Musk’s allegations after finding his claims came too late. The verdict also spared Microsoft from “aiding and abetting” liability, and it derailed a Monday hearing on remedies
A blockbuster lawsuit brought by Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI ended abruptly for the Tesla CEO on Monday: a jury found Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and OpenAI itself not liable, clearing them of Musk’s claims that the company scammed him through its structure.
Jurors in an Oakland. California courtroom ruled that Musk filed his case too late to hold Altman. Brockman. or OpenAI responsible for any of the allegations he brought.. They also found Microsoft not liable for “aiding and abetting” Altman and Brockman in violating charity laws while profiting from its deals with OpenAI. again citing the timing problem tied to Musk’s lawsuit.. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. who oversaw the trial. said she accepted the jury’s unanimous findings and would not overrule them.
The decision is a major victory for Altman. who now has the ability to point to a courtroom outcome after longstanding questions surrounding his honesty and how OpenAI was managed.. It also marks a win for Altman’s lead attorney. William Savitt of the elite law firm Wachtell. Lipton. Rosen & Katz. amid OpenAI’s move toward an expected IPO.
The verdict also knocked out momentum in the courtroom.. A hearing scheduled for Monday on potential remedies was scuttled once jurors returned their decision.. Before the jury ruled. the judge was set to listen to expert testimony about how much money the defendants would have owed Musk if the parties had been found liable for violating the law.. Gonzalez Rogers would then have decided on penalties and considered Musk’s request to unwind OpenAI’s for-profit arm.
Because the jury found Musk missed the legal deadlines for his claims, it never reached the merits of the allegations themselves. After the verdict, Musk’s attorney Marc Toberoff told journalists they planned to appeal the case.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015. when the company was designed as a nonprofit intended to develop artificial intelligence technology “that would benefit all of humanity.” Musk and Altman also framed the effort as a counterweight to Google’s DeepMind. which they viewed as a threat if general AI technology ended up in the hands of a private company.
But Musk’s lawsuit. first filed in 2024. alleged Altman and Brockman perverted that mission by building a for-profit arm of OpenAI and partnering with Microsoft.. Musk said they effectively stole the nonprofit and used it to enrich themselves based on Musk’s $38 million in early donations to the organization.
In their defense. OpenAI. Altman. and Brockman argued Musk was trying to hobble OpenAI through litigation as his own AI company. xAI—now renamed SpaceXAI and part of his rocketship company—lagged behind.. During the trial. they presented evidence that Musk understood that partnering with a major tech company like Microsoft would be essential to raising the capital needed for the extensive computing power required for AI development.. Microsoft also argued that it didn’t know about and wasn’t bound to any agreements between Musk and OpenAI.
The trial included testimony from Musk. who accused Altman of looting the OpenAI charity. and from Altman. who portrayed Musk as a power-hungry operator seeking to control the company himself.. It also featured witnesses including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and former OpenAI board members. who testified about “The Blip. ” the nickname for the brief period when the board fired Altman as CEO.
Elon Musk Sam Altman OpenAI Greg Brockman Microsoft Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers lawsuit charity laws jury verdict IPO
So Musk lost because it was “too late”? That sounds like legal loophole math.
I don’t even get it, like didn’t he found the whole idea of OpenAI? If it’s about timing then what was the point of the trial.
Timing problem… okay but juries usually decide the facts not the calendar. Also Microsoft being “spared” sounds weird, because Microsoft profits off everything.
This headline is messy. I read it like they said Altman is innocent and OpenAI never scammed him, but then it mentions remedies and money and penalties like it could’ve been something huge? Guess it doesn’t matter now. Musk will probably say the judge or jury was bought or something, just watch.