Elon Musk Loses $134B Lawsuit Against OpenAI & Sam Altman

A federal jury has ended consideration of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and the founders of the artificial intelligence firm. It found the billionaire’s claims barred by California’s statute of limitations laws.

Federal Jury Rules Against Elon Musk In OpenAI Lawsuit

In a closely observed case that was closely watched in the legal battle, the unanimous verdict was announced Monday after just under two hours of deliberation. The jury ended up finding OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman not liable.

Elon Musk had also sued Microsoft for allegedly assisting in Altman and Brockman’s violation of obligations stemming from OpenAI’s non-profit status. Microsoft invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has since become one of the biggest supporters of its commercial arm. Thus, Musk demanded a whopping $134 billion in damages.

After the jury found in favor of the plaintiff in court, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the verdict. Elon Musk’s lawyers, Steven Molo, said they will appeal the ruling. “We want to get going on the appeal, with all due respect to the court,” he told the judge.

However, Molo later contended that it was a procedural issue and not the substance of the dispute. He said that the result was a decision on “technical legal issues,” according to NBC news. He added that Musk has shown OpenAI’s senior leadership breached obligations arising from the organization.

The main question in the OpenAi case was whether or not Musk waited too long before suing. California statute set the time limit for charitable trust claims at three years, and two years for an unlawful enrichment claim.

What Is OpenAI Lawyer’s Stance?

At trial, OpenAI lawyer Bill Savitt claimed that despite knowing about the structural changes at OpenAI years ago, Elon Musk had waited to take any action. “He waited too long to sue,” Savitt told jurors. He added, “It’s too late now to gin up something to harm a competitor” as he referred to Musk’s xAI startup.

Musk has claimed he believed Altman’s assurances until he ultimately filed a lawsuit in 2024. “Thinking that someone might steal your car is not the same as someone stealing it,” Musk said during testimony. “I would have filed a lawsuit sooner if I thought they had stolen the charity sooner,” he added.