Jury Sides With OpenAI in Final Week of Musk Versus Altman Trial
The high-profile legal battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman concludes as a jury delivers an advisory verdict in favor of OpenAI, citing the statute of limitations.
The final week of the Musk v. Altman trial sees lawyers aggressively questioning the credibility of both tech leaders. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman faces intense scrutiny over allegations of lying and self-dealing, while Musk faces accusations of wanting to control the development of artificial general intelligence. To illustrate their commitment to safety, OpenAI even presents a golden trophy of a donkey's rear end, awarded to an employee who previously stood up to Musk's aggressive AGI plans.
Musk's legal team argues that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman break a foundational promise by abandoning the company's nonprofit status to amass extraordinary personal wealth. In response, OpenAI's lawyers maintain that no strict promise to remain a nonprofit ever exists and assert that the restructured entity still dedicates itself to safe AI development. They argue that Musk files his lawsuit too late and that his true motive is simply to sabotage a competitor to his own AI venture, xAI.
Musk seeks massive consequences from the court, asking the judge to unwind OpenAI's 2025 restructuring into a public benefit corporation and to remove Altman and Brockman from their leadership positions. He also demands up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft. However, the jury ultimately sides with OpenAI, delivering an advisory verdict that Musk's claims are barred by the statute of limitations, a decision that US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers accepts.