Elon Musk loses OpenAI court case after jury finds he waited too long to sue

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]A US court has thrown out claims filed by Sam Altman's OpenAI and its top executives by Elon Musk who accused the company of betraying a shared vision for it to remain a non-profit dedicated to guiding artificial intelligence development for the good of humanity.

[00:00:19]The nine-person jury found Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit and missed the statutory deadline. After a three-week trial, the jury deliberated for less than two hours. The trial in Oakland, California shed light on the bitter falling out between the two Silicon Valley titans and the beginnings of OpenAI, now a company valued at nearly $1 trillion and moving toward potentially one of the largest initial public offerings in history.

[00:00:51]Musk, an early investor in the AI company, sued OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, its president Greg Brockman, and Microsoft for allegedly betraying an agreement about keeping OpenAI as a non-profit that benefits humanity. However, Altman and OpenAI claimed there was never a promise to keep OpenAI a non-profit forever. They argued Musk's lawsuit aimed to undercut the company's rapid growth and bolster Musk's xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor. Musk posted on his social media platform X that he would file an appeal.