Elon Musk loses US lawsuit against OpenAI

In a unanimous verdict, the jury in Oakland, California federal court said Musk had brought his case ⁠too late.A United States jury has ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit ⁠against OpenAI, finding the artificial ⁠intelligence (AI) company not liable to the world’s richest person for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.In a unanimous verdict on Monday, the jury in Oakland, California US federal court said Musk had brought his case ⁠too late. The jury deliberated for less than two hours.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tata-ASML deal: How significant is it for India’s semiconductor push?list 2 of 4Could the Iran war trigger the next debt shock?list 3 of 4Iran’s World Cup team arrives in Turkiye amid US visa uncertaintylist 4 of 4Trump drops IRS lawsuit, sets up $1.7bn US anti-weaponisation fundend of listThe trial had widely been seen as a critical moment for the future of OpenAI and AI generally, both in how it should be used and who should benefit from it.Following the verdict, ⁠Musk’s lawyer said he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested he may have an uphill battle because whether the statute of limitations ran out before Musk sued was a factual issue.“There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said.Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI, the company that launched in 2015 and went on to create ChatGPT. After investing $38m in its first years, Musk in 2024 accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and his top deputy of shifting into a moneymaking mode behind his back.The trial that began April 27 shed light on the bitter falling-out between the two Silicon Valley titans and the beginnings of OpenAI, now a company valued at $852bn and moving towards potentially one of the largest initial public offerings in history.Altman and OpenAI claimed there was never a promise to keep OpenAI a nonprofit forever. In fact, they argued, Musk knew this and filed his lawsuit because he couldn’t have unilateral control over the fast-growing AI developer.