Stinging defeat: Elon Musk loses lawsuit in dispute with Sam Altman and OpenAI. The verdict, given unanimously

A US jury on Monday ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding that the artificial intelligence firm has no liability to the world's richest person for deviating from its original mission to benefit humanity, Reuters and The Guardian write.

In a unanimous verdict, the jury in federal court in Oakland, California, determined that Musk filed the lawsuit too late.

The federal jury in Oakland, Calif., deliberated for less than two hours.

The trial was widely seen as a critical moment for the future of OpenAI and artificial intelligence in general, both in terms of how it should be used and who should benefit from it.

After the verdict, Musk's lawyer announced he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested he may have an uphill battle because the fact that the statute of limitations had expired before Musk filed the lawsuit is a question of fact.

“There is a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury's conclusion, which is why I was prepared to dismiss the case outright,” said federal judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

In the lawsuit filed in 2024, Musk accused OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman and company chairman Greg Brockman of manipulating him into donating $38 million, then going behind his back by attaching a for-profit business to the original nonprofit and accepting tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft and other investors.

Musk called the behavior of the OpenAI defendants “theft from a charity.”

The world's richest person sought about $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, which would have been paid to OpenAI's non-profit organization. Musk also called for Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman to be removed from their positions.

OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others in 2015. Musk left the company's board in 2018, and OpenAI formed a for-profit entity the following year.

People use AI for countless purposes, such as education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnosis, but also for harmful deepfakes online.

Many people express mistrust of this technology and fear that AI could replace humans in the workplace.

The verdict followed 11 days of testimony and arguments in which Musk's and Altman's credibility came under repeated attack.

Each side accused the other of being more interested in money than serving the public.

In his closing argument, Musk's attorney, Steven Molo, reminded jurors that several witnesses questioned Altman's honesty or labeled him a liar, and that Musk did not answer with an unqualified “yes” when asked during the trial whether Altman was completely trustworthy.

“Sam Altman's credibility is directly in question,” Molo said. “If you don't believe him, they can't win.”

Musk accused OpenAI of unjustifiably trying to enrich investors and insiders at the nonprofit's expense, and of failing to prioritize AI safety. He also claimed that Microsoft knew all along that OpenAI was more interested in money than altruism.

OpenAI countered that Musk was only interested in money and that he waited too long to claim that OpenAI violated its founding agreement, which called for the creation of artificial intelligence that was safe and for the benefit of humanity.

“Mr. Musk may have the 'Midas touch' in some areas, but not AI,” said William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI, in his closing argument. The phrase “the touch of Midas” (or “the hand of Midas”) comes from Greek mythology and refers to the ability of the legendary King Midas of Phrygia to turn everything he touched into pure gold.

OpenAI competes with AI companies such as Anthropic and xAI and is preparing for a possible initial public offering that could value the business at $1 trillion.

Microsoft has spent more than $100 billion on its partnership with OpenAI, a Microsoft executive testified.

xAI, the AI ​​agent developed by Musk, is now part of his space and rocket company SpaceX, which is preparing an initial public offering that could surpass that of OpenAI in size.