Elon Musk’s claim that he was mistreated by his OpenAI cofounders failed after nine California jurors decided in a unanimous verdict that his lawsuits had been filed too late.
Musk took Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI and Microsoft to of “stealing a charity” by creating a for-profit affiliate to the frontier AI lab. Jurors, however, found that any harms that Musk suffered came before the deadline for filing his claims under the law.
While the trial delved deeply into the melodramatic history of OpenAI and featured testimony from leading figures in Silicon Valley, it ultimately turned on fairly narrow questions of the law. The trial focused on whether and when Altman and the other defendants had made and broken promises to Musk, but the examination failed to convince jurors that he had a valid claim.
In particular, OpenAI had advanced a statute of limitations defense, which sought to prove that any harms Musk sought to litigate had taken place before 2021. (The specific date varied by the charge: before August 5, 2021 for the first count; August 5, 2022, for the second count; and November 14, 2021, for the third count.) Ultimately, the jury found that argument persuasive, which made for a short deliberation period.
“There was a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss it on the spot,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said after the verdict was delivered.
The end of the case means that one major threat to OpenAI — a potential restructuring — is now off the table ahead of its reported IPO.
The verdict came in the middle of a hearing to determine the potential damages to Musk if the verdict had gone the other way. While that discussion is moot for now, the Judge appeared unconvinced by the analogy Musk’s lawyers drew between his charitable contributions and investments in a for-profit startup.
Reached for comment by TechCrunch, Musk’s lead counsel Marc Toberoff said, “One word: Appeal.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
