Elon Musk loses case against OpenAI as US court dismisses lawsuit

In the latest breaking news, Elon Musk loses lawsuit against OpenAI.

A long tech rivalry finally takes another shocking turn after a U.S. jury on Monday ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding the artificial intelligence company not liable to the world's richest person for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.

In a unanimous verdict, the jury in Oakland, California's federal court said ‌Musk had brought his case too late.

Additionally, the jury deliberated for less than two hours.

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

Following the verdict, Musk's lawyer said he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested he may have an uphill battle because whether the statute of limitations ran out before Musk sued was a factual issue.

"There's a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury's finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot," U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said.

OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others in 2015. Musk left its board in 2018, and OpenAI set up a for-profit business ​the next year.

In his 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI, its Chief Executive Sam Altman and its President Greg Brockman of manipulating him into giving $38 million, then going behind his back by attaching a for-profit business to its original nonprofit and accepting tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft and other investors.

People use AI for myriad purposes such as education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnoses, and harmful ​deepfakes.

Many people express distrust of the technology and worry it could displace people from their jobs.

Musk called the OpenAI defendants' conduct "stealing a charity."

The verdict followed 11 days of testimony and arguments where ‌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.

Notably, 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.