A federal jury in California took just a few hours on Monday to unanimously dismiss Elon Musk’s claims alleging that Sam Altman and OpenAI deceived him into funding the company with promises to operate it as a nonprofit for the public welfare.
Musk accused the ChatGPT-maker and its leaders, including CEO Altman and president Greg Brockman, of effectively “stealing a charity” by later starting a massive commercial venture that has become one of the most well known and highly valued artificial intelligence businesses.
Jurors determined that Musk’s claims alleging unjust enrichment, breach of charitable trust and a related claim against Microsoft for aiding and abetting that breach were untimely and barred by the statutes of limitations. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers — who was overseeing a parallel proceeding Monday about potential remedies when the verdict came down — immediately announced that she would accept the jury’s non-binding advisory verdict.
The remedies phase of the proceedings — during which Rogers expressed serious skepticism toward the first witness who testified on Musk’s behalf — is now moot.
The case against OpenAI was considered existential, threatening the basic structure of the artificial intelligence giant and its ability to survive in its current form. Musk requested remedies including more than $100 billion in damages, removal of Altman and Brockman from executive and board roles, and a restructuring to convert OpenAI back to its original nonprofit status.
OpenAI is reportedly preparing for a potentially massive initial public offering that could approach $1 trillion in value.
Musk is expected to appeal the verdict.
