Elon Musk Waited Too Long to Sue OpenAI and Sam Altman, Jury Rules

Elon Musk lost his high-profile lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI after a jury ruled that the Tesla founder waited too long to file the lawsuit in the first place, The New York Times reports.

Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024, accusing Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman of unjustly enriching themselves, and OpenAI of breaching its duty as a nonprofit by starting a for-profit wing and taking billions in investment from Microsoft (also named as a defendant). Musk helped Altman found OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, but left the board of directors in 2018 and no longer has a stake in the company.

The jury took less than two hours to decide the high-profile, three-week trial. And before even getting to the veracity of Musk’s claims, they ruled that he brought them after the statute of limitations had expired. 

For the breach of contract part of the suit, the jury found that Musk failed to prove he had no way of knowing about OpenAI’s pursuit of a for-profit model before 2021. (The jury heard evidence he was involved in such discussions as early as 2017, per NBC News.). The jury also found Musk missed the two-year statute of limitations for the unjust enrichment claims. Additionally, this decision meant Microsoft could not be held liable for allegedly aiding and abetting OpenAI.

Per The Times, Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, indicated his client would appeal the ruling. It’s also possible Musk’s antitrust claims against OpenAI and Microsoft could head to a separate trial. The judge is set to discuss the matter with both sides later today, though he’s previously indicated a second trial would be unlikely due to robust competition in the AI market. 

Meanwhile, OpenAI and Microsoft celebrated the victory. OpenAI’s lead lawyer, William Savitt, told reporters outside the courthouse he was “delighted” with the verdict, adding, if Musk appeals, “We are very, very confident in our case.”
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Microsoft also issued a statement: “The facts and the timeline in this case have long been clear and we welcome the jury’s decision to dismiss these claims as untimely.”

The decision will help further solidify OpenAI’s dominant position in tech and AI. Had Musk won, a victory could’ve won him up to $150 billion in damages, and led to Altman’s ouster from the OpenAI board. That would’ve been a massive boon to OpenAI’s competitors, including Musk’s own xAI. Now, however, Altman will retain significant control over OpenAI as it heads towards a likely historic initial public offering and pursues massive data center expansion.