Jury dismisses Musk suit against OpenAI

Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI ended on May 18 with a unanimous jury verdict in federal court in Oakland, California. The nine-person jury found that Musk had waited too long to sue OpenAI, Chief Executive Sam Altman and other defendants, and it cleared them on all claims after less than two hours of deliberation. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the advisory verdict from the bench, according to courtroom reports. Musk said later on X that he planned to appeal. ### Why did the case end without the jury deciding whether OpenAI betrayed its founding mission? The jury’s answer turned on timing, not on whether Musk’s allegations were true. Jurors concluded that Musk filed too late under the applicable statute of limitations, a finding Reuters, NPR, NBC News and MIT Technology Review all reported from the courtroom. Musk wrote on X that “the judge & jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality,” according to MIT Technology Review’s account. (usnews.com) OpenAI had argued that Musk had ample notice years earlier of the company’s move toward a for-profit structure. MIT Technology Review reported that Musk sued in 2024 and that the dispute centered on charitable-trust and unjust-enrichment claims, with OpenAI arguing the filing deadlines had already expired. (usnews.com) ### What was Musk accusing Altman and OpenAI of doing? Musk, an OpenAI co-founder and early donor, claimed Altman, Greg Brockman and OpenAI had abandoned the group’s original nonprofit mission and shifted toward private gain. Reuters reported that Musk said the company had strayed from its founding goal to benefit humanity. NPR and NBC said Musk sought to oust Altman over alleged breaches tied to that mission. (technologyreview.com) MIT Technology Review reported that Musk said he donated $38 million in OpenAI’s early years and later accused Altman and Brockman of breaching a charitable trust and unjustly enriching themselves. The same report said Musk also asked the court to unwind OpenAI’s 2025 restructuring into a public benefit corporation and remove Altman and Brockman from their roles. (usnews.com) ### Who else was cleared by the verdict? Sam Altman was not the only defendant to come out of the trial without liability. NBC News reported that the verdict found Altman, Brockman and OpenAI not liable on all claims. GeekWire said the jury also rejected Musk’s claim that Microsoft aided and abetted a breach of OpenAI’s charitable trust, again on statute-of-limitations grounds. (technologyreview.com) NPR reported that the jury dismissed all claims against Altman, ending Musk’s effort to remove him during the trial. That result preserved OpenAI’s leadership structure at the close of the case. ### How quickly did the jury reach its decision? The verdict came fast after a much longer trial. (nbcnews.com) Reuters, NPR, AP-based reports and NBC all said jurors deliberated for less than two hours on May 18 before returning a unanimous decision. NPR described the panel as a nine-member advisory jury. The speed of the decision followed roughly three weeks of testimony in Oakland, according to Reuters, AP-based reports and MIT Technology Review. (wlrn.org) The trial had drawn attention because it pitted Musk against one of the most closely watched artificial-intelligence companies and its chief executive. ### What happens next in the fight between Musk and OpenAI? (usnews.com) Musk said on May 18 that he would appeal the verdict. Ars Technica, MIT Technology Review, Reuters and NBC all reported that next step, while NBC quoted Musk lawyer Steven Molo saying the legal team intended to move ahead with an appeal. (usnews.com) Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in court, according to Reuters-carrying and AP-based reports, that the evidence supported the jury’s finding on timeliness. The next concrete step is therefore likely to be a filing by Musk’s legal team in the appeals process after the May 18 judgment in Oakland. (aljazeera.com) (arstechnica.com)