Jury hands victory to Sam Altman and OpenAI in battle with Elon Musk
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A jury ruled in favor of Sam Altman in the culmination of a long and bitter legal battle that pitted the richest person in the world against a leader of the AI boom.
Key facts
Musk’s lawsuit sought $134bn to be redistributed from OpenAI’s for-profit arm to its non-profit
The jury found that Musk’s lawsuit, which was filed in 2024, did not fall within the statute of limitations to bring his case
Musk’s attorneys Steven Molo and Marc Toberoff, meanwhile, framed the case as having proved a point and exposed OpenAI, regardless of their loss
Musk, Altman, Brockman and the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, all gave testimony in the case, at times facing combative cross-examinations in the courtroom
Summary
The federal jury in Oakland, California, found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk ’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup. The verdict, delivered after less than two hours of deliberation, is a stark rebuke of Musk and his lawyer’s claims that Altman “stole a charity” through his leadership of OpenAI. The jury’s finding is a non-binding, advisory verdict that left Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers with ultimate power to issue her own ruling in the case. “I think there’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” Gonzalez Rogers told Musk’s lawyer after the verdict.