A federal court on Monday dismissed Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI and its top executives, bringing an end to a closely watched legal battle over the company’s transformation from a nonprofit research lab into one of the world’s most valuable AI firms.The nine-person jury found that Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit and missed the deadline under the statute of limitations. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepted the advisory jury’s verdict as the court’s own and dismissed the claims after jurors deliberated for about two hours.The trial, which began April 27 in Oakland, California, highlighted the bitter split between Musk and OpenAI’s leadership. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and invested $38 million in its early years before leaving the company in 2018.Musk accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman of abandoning a shared vision for OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence as a nonprofit dedicated to humanity’s benefit. He claimed the company secretly shifted into a profit-driven structure and alleged that Altman and Brockman unjustly enriched themselves as OpenAI’s valuation surged.During the trial, Musk argued that the dispute was ultimately simple.“I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit … very complicated, but it’s actually very simple,” Musk said, as quoted by AP. “Which is that it’s not OK to steal a charity.”Musk sought damages that would be directed toward OpenAI’s charitable arm and also called for Altman’s removal from the company’s board.OpenAI and Altman rejected the allegations, arguing there was never a promise to keep OpenAI a nonprofit forever. They said Musk understood the company’s direction and later sued because he was unable to gain unilateral control over the fast-growing AI developer.The three-week trial featured testimony from Musk, Altman, Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and former OpenAI board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley. Brockman testified that his stake in OpenAI is worth about $30 billion.Jurors also heard details about the brief firing of Altman as CEO in 2023 before he returned to the position days later. Toner and McCauley, who testified about the board’s decision to remove Altman, were themselves pushed out after his reinstatement.Altman testified that concerns over Musk’s attempts to gain more control over OpenAI contributed to tensions between them as the company pursued artificial general intelligence.“Part of the reason we started OpenAI is we didn’t think AGI could be under the control of any one person, no matter how good their intents are,” Altman said.Near the end of his testimony, Altman reflected on the collapse of his relationship with Musk.“I felt like he had abandoned us, not come through on his promises, put the company in a very difficult place, jeopardized the mission, didn’t really care about the things I thought he cared about,” Altman said. “It’s been an extremely painful thing for me … to have someone that I respected so much not acknowledge that and continue to publicly attack us.”OpenAI argued throughout the case that Musk’s lawsuit was driven by frustration over the company’s rapid growth and was aimed at helping his own AI startup, xAI, which he launched in 2023.
