GoKawiilElon Musk's courtroom battle with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman came to an abrupt end on Monday after a jury unanimously found that Musk's claims that Altman was "stealing a charity" fell outside of the legal statute of limitations to be tried in court.
Musk's proposed case is linked to his past as a co-founder of OpenAI, which was founded as a nonprofit in 2015. Musk alleged that Altman used his financial resources to expand OpenAI's operations before turning the organization into a commercial entity.
Musk's suit said that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman were in violation of a founding agreement (PDF) that states the corporation's technology "will benefit the public and [OpenAI] will seek to open source technology for the public benefit when applicable. [OpenAI] is not organized for the private gain of any person."
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Microsoft was also named as a defendant in the suit, with Musk alleging that the company's 2019 investment and continued interest in OpenAI constituted aiding and abetting the startup in its breach of the founding agreement.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Musk's filing sought tens of billions of dollars in compensation to be extracted from OpenAI's for-profit operations and redistributed to the "OpenAI nonprofit mission." He also hoped that the court would rule in favor of removing Altman and Brockman from their executive positions in the company.
The case was filed in a federal court in Oakland, California, and presided over by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who accepted the advisory jury's unanimous decision, reached after three weeks of evidence and just 2 hours of deliberation.
Ruling in Altman's favor, the court found that "claims of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment are dismissed as untimely." Musk would have had to file the suit within three years of leaving OpenAI for his claims to be heard. All claims against Altman, Brockman and Microsoft have been dismissed. Musk's lead counsel, Steven Molo, reserved the billionaire's right to appeal the decision.
Musk and Altman continue to maneuver their AI companies into the public market. Altman's win clears the way for OpenAI's prospective trillion-dollar stock market initial public offering. Musk's SpaceX, which merged with xAI earlier this year, filed for an IPO in April.
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