Jury rejects Musk claims against OpenAI after three-week trial

A federal jury rejected Elon Musk’s claims against OpenAI and chief executive Sam Altman on Sunday, lifting a major legal overhang as the company pushes deeper into the artificial-intelligence race and keeps open the prospect of a future public offering.

The decision reached beyond a dispute between two Silicon Valley figures. It removed a case that had shadowed OpenAI’s governance and fundraising story and strengthened Altman’s position as the ChatGPT maker expands commercially. Axios reported that Musk had sought $134 billion in damages, underscoring how much was at stake for one of the most valuable companies in AI.

Reuters and AP reported that the jury sided with OpenAI after a three-week trial and less than two hours of deliberations. Jurors accepted the company’s argument that Musk had waited too long to sue, rejecting an effort to unwind years of corporate decisions as OpenAI weighs how to finance its next phase of growth.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said from the bench that the evidence strongly supported the verdict.

“There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot.”

— Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, as quoted by Reuters

Musk, an OpenAI co-founder who put about $38 million into the company in its early years, argued that Altman and other leaders had abandoned the lab’s founding nonprofit mission and enriched themselves as OpenAI built a for-profit business around its models. After the verdict, Reuters quoted Musk saying that Altman and Greg Brockman had “enrich[ed] themselves by stealing a charity,” showing how bitter the fight remained even after the jury rejected his claims.

Why the ruling matters

The ruling carries business consequences for OpenAI. With the case resolved, the company is freer to pursue the kind of capital structure that could support another large fundraising round or, eventually, a listing. Reuters said market talk around OpenAI has at times stretched to a possible $1 trillion valuation, a sign of how much investors believe is riding on the next generation of AI platforms.

For Musk, who now owns xAI, the loss closes one legal route for challenging Altman’s stewardship of OpenAI. The rivalry over talent, capital and influence in the industry remains. But one of the sector’s most closely watched governance disputes ended with a clear win for the company Musk had tried to restrain. The contest now shifts back to the boardroom and the market, where OpenAI’s ability to raise money and commercialize its models will matter more than courtroom claims that failed to persuade jurors.

Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff said the verdict could carry implications beyond one company.

“The verdict could encourage other startups that begin as nonprofits but have greater ambitions to raise money, create for-profit entities to scale, and make their officers and directors rich.”

— Marc Toberoff, Musk’s lawyer, as quoted by Reuters

The trial also put a broader question into public view: how much freedom a technology startup should have to change its structure once the money required to compete becomes enormous. AP’s reporting on the verdict showed the case had become a test of whether jurors would punish OpenAI for moving away from its original nonprofit identity. They did not.

For OpenAI, the immediate result is straightforward. The company leaves court without the damages threat Musk pursued and without a ruling that would force a rethink of its corporate evolution. In an AI market where access to capital can shape which companies build the most powerful systems, the verdict is a significant victory for Altman and a setback for Musk.