Elon Musk Loses Lawsuit Against OpenAI

A federal jury in Oakland on Monday dismissed Elon Musk's claims against OpenAI in his blockbuster lawsuit, reports the Wall Street Journal. The jury found that Musk did not file his suit against Sam Altman's company within the required three-year statute of limitations, per the New York Times. Though Musk sued in 2024, jurors determined he was aware of behavior specified in his complaint back in 2021. Musk had argued he was duped into bankrolling what he believed was a nonprofit effort to develop artificial intelligence "for the benefit of humanity," only to see OpenAI morph into a for-profit outfit he likened to a misappropriated charity.

The trial pulled in some of tech's biggest names, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever. OpenAI's lawyers said Musk knew and backed the shift to a for-profit arm and tried to gain control of the venture—turning litigious only after he left to build his own AI company. Musk had sought more than $180 billion in damages for an OpenAI foundation, the ouster of Altman and president Greg Brockman, and a reversal of the company's governance overhaul. The case unfolded as both Musk and OpenAI pursue public listings and battle rivals like Anthropic for dominance in the AI race.