Jury Dismisses All Claims in Musk v. Altman Trial Over OpenAI's Mission and Control

A jury reached a unanimous verdict Monday in the closely watched Musk v. Altman trial, dismissing all claims brought by Elon Musk against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman after roughly two hours of deliberation.

The jury found that two of Musk's claims were barred by the statute of limitations, with a third claim failing as a consequence of that dismissal. Because the jury served in an advisory capacity, the verdict was technically non-binding — but US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the case, accepted the decision.

Musk filed the lawsuit in 2024, accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity and pivoting instead toward profit-seeking. In the suit, he asked for the removal of Altman and OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, and sought to bar the company from operating as a public benefit corporation.

OpenAI rejected those arguments, characterizing the lawsuit as "a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor" in a bid to benefit Musk's own ventures — including SpaceX, xAI, and X — which have launched the Grok chatbot as a direct rival to ChatGPT.

The roughly three-week trial drew testimony from a notable cast of figures, including Altman, Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI chief scientist and co-founder Ilya Sutskever, and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who shares several children with Musk.

Musk himself testified during the proceedings but was notably absent for closing arguments on May 14. OpenAI's lead defense attorney William Savitt pointed out to the jury that Musk had traveled to Beijing aboard Air Force One with President Donald Trump while Altman and Brockman remained present in the courtroom. "Mr. Musk came to this court for exactly one witness — Elon Musk — and he hasn't been seen since," Savitt told jurors.

Closing arguments underscored the credibility battles that defined much of the trial. Musk's lead counsel Steven Molo stumbled at several points, at one moment referring to Brockman — a co-defendant — as "Greg Altman," and was corrected by the judge after erroneously claiming Musk was not seeking monetary damages. OpenAI attorney Sarah Eddy countered by presenting the company's documentary evidence in chronological order, including a pointed line directed at Musk: "Even the mother of his children can't back his story."

Savitt, for his part, highlighted the number of times Musk claimed not to recall critical details during testimony, questioning how a sophisticated businessman could fail to understand or read a four-page term sheet OpenAI had sent to him.

At its core, the suit centered on Musk's claim that Altman and Brockman had induced him to donate to OpenAI under false pretenses, only to later steer the organization away from its nonprofit origins. OpenAI was founded with a stated mission of ensuring AI development benefits humanity broadly, but has since grown into one of the most heavily capitalized companies in the technology sector.

The verdict closes the legal chapter for now, though Judge Gonzalez Rogers retains authority to issue her own findings independent of the jury's recommendation. With Musk's xAI competing directly against OpenAI in the generative AI market, the rivalry between the two organizations — and their principals — is unlikely to recede from public view.

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