Musk Loses OpenAI Suit; Plans Appeal on Calendar Technicality
Musk Loses OpenAI Suit; Plans Appeal on Calendar Technicality
Elon Musk says the California verdict rested on a calendar technicality and plans to appeal, accusing OpenAI leaders of enriching themselves.
Elon Musk has reacted sharply after losing his high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI, saying the court never ruled on the actual allegations but dismissed the case on a calendar technicality. The verdict closes a three-week trial that drew attention to questions about the nonprofit origins and for-profit pivot of the AI lab he helped launch in 2015 before leaving the company in 2018.
According to Musk, the judge and jury did not rule on the merits of his claims. He said he intends to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals after a California jury ruled that he had waited too long to bring the suit, a claim Musk called a “calendar technicality” that decided the case rather than the facts.
In a series of posts on X, Musk renewed his accusations against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman, arguing that the company abandoned its original nonprofit mission for financial gain and that Altman and Brockman enriched themselves by stealing a charity. He asserted that the question of when they did so is the key issue.
The trial's timing matters as OpenAI and its backers push toward record-breaking market moves. OpenAI recently raised fresh funding at a valuation of more than $850 billion, while Musk’s SpaceX is pursuing an IPO following its merger with xAI earlier this year.
Filed in 2024, the suit sought up to $150 billion in damages and aimed to unwind OpenAI’s for-profit restructuring. The verdict marks a pivotal moment in a dispute that pits a longtime innovator against one of the best-known AI laboratories as the tech industry weighs governance, ethics and potential public offerings.
