Musk loses case against OpenAI

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/tech/openai-musk-lawsuit-verdict

Publish Date: 2026-05-18 13:36:00

Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its leaders, a jury in Oakland, California, decided on Monday. A lawsuit he filed was barred by the statute of limitations, the jury found after about 90 minutes of deliberation.

Their verdict was advisory, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she agrees with the jury.

“The court now confirms the prior indication that it would accept the jury’s findings as its own,” Rogers said.

“I think that there’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” she added in court on Monday.

Musk helped cofound and fund OpenAI, giving $38 million in its early years. He sued CEO Sam Altman, company president Greg Brockman, and OpenAI in February 2024, alleging that they “stole a charity” and unjustly enriched themselves when they shifted to a structure that includes a for-profit arm.

“I was a fool,” Musk told the court earlier this month. “I gave them free funding to create a startup.”

Musk’s case threatened to derail the ChatGPT maker as it plans what could be a blockbuster IPO. The jury’s decision is a win for OpenAI and its founders, Altman and Brockman.

OpenAI’s attorneys argued the company’s mission hasn’t changed, that it’s still run by a non-profit foundation board, and that Musk waited to file the suit until he founded his own competing artificial intelligence company, xAI. The jury agreed, finding that Musk was aware of the behavior discussed in the lawsuit as early as 2021.

“The finding of the jury confirms that what this lawsuit was was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor,” William Savitt, OpenAI’s attorney, said on Monday after the verdict. “The…

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