Oakland jury dismisses Musk’s $134bn OpenAI lawsuit on statute of limitations grounds

A jury in Oakland has dismissed Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, concluding a high-stakes legal battle in under two hours of deliberation. The jury determined that the claims were filed outside the statute of limitations, a finding that led Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to dismiss the case immediately.

The verdict followed three weeks of testimony in which Musk’s legal team argued that OpenAI had abandoned its original nonprofit mission in pursuit of profit. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, sought $134 billion in damages, the removal of Altman and Greg Brockman from leadership, and the unwinding of OpenAI’s for-profit restructuring.

OpenAI’s counsel contested these assertions, noting that Musk had previously floated a for-profit structure for the organisation contingent on him controlling it, and had attempted to fold OpenAI into Tesla. The legal team characterised the litigation as an attempt by a competitor to use the courts because it could not win in the marketplace.

Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015 but left the board three years later. He launched his own competing AI laboratory in 2023 as OpenAI became one of the most valuable artificial intelligence companies globally. The legal dispute has been described as a significant event in Silicon Valley, attracting extensive media attention and high-profile involvement from entities including Microsoft.

Following the verdict, counsel for OpenAI and Microsoft celebrated outside the courtroom. Judge Rogers indicated she was prepared to dismiss any immediate appeal, though Musk’s legal team has reserved the right to pursue further action. The long-term impact of this dismissal on the broader AI industry landscape remains to be seen.