On February 29,2024, Tesla and Space X CEO, Elon Musk publicly announced that he was suing the company OpenAI as well as the CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. He alleged they betrayed the company’s original non-profit mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity; instead it became a greedy and unsafe environment plaguing the masses.
Musk, who was co-founder and early funder of the company, claimed Altman and the leadership deceived him into investing millions. Later, without Musk’s knowledge they shifted the company into a heavily commercialized profit-driven enterprise deeply tied with Microsoft.
The jury selection started on April 27, 2026 and the following day they would continue with opening arguments and witness testimonies. OpenAI’s defense was that Musk filed the lawsuit too late, past the period of limitation.
They asserted that Musk had prior knowledge and fully supported their for-profit transitions, which Musk denied. They stated that the only reason he was going through with this lawsuit was to pursue the litigation to sabotage a competitor after failing to gain control of the company.
OpenAI executives testified that Musk wanted control of the company to secure a large amount of money needed to colonize Mars. Despite Musks stating he pledged $1 billion to start OpenAI, court evidence indicated his total contributions reached roughly $30 million prior to his 2018 board departure.
Musk’s attorneys used the trial to target Altman’s credibility, citing testimony from former board members and colleagues who had previously removed Altman in a 2023 boardroom dispute over his honesty. Though the judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers dismissed the case based on the statute of limitations, Musk’s legal team stated their intent to appeal the ruling was based on a “calendar technicality” rather than the substance of claims.
After three weeks of the tedious trial, taking place in Oakland, California with a nine-person jury, they ended up taking less than two hours to deliberate their decision.
A unanimous vote was reached, stating that Musk missed the legal deadline to sue. Judge Rogers quickly accepted the verdict as the court’s final decision and dismissed all claims, including those against codefendant Microsoft. Musk stated he will appeal the verdict to the Ninth circuit, dismissing the court’s decision as a “calendar technicality” that he will keep pursuing until his ideals of justice are brought.
