Oakland [US], May 19 : Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday (local time) lost a lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after a federal court jury in California ruled that Musk had waited too long to file the case and that the statute of limitations had expired, according to CNN.
The verdict was advisory in nature, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she agreed with the jury's findings. "The court now confirms the prior indication that it would accept the jury's findings as its own. "I think that there's a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury's finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot," she said in court, as per CNN.
Musk, who co-founded and initially funded OpenAI with about USD 18 million in its early years, had filed the lawsuit in February 2024 against Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and the company itself. He alleged that the organisation had "stolen a charity" and unfairly enriched itself after shifting to a structure that included a for-profit arm.
"I was a fool. I gave them free funding to create a startup," Musk told the court, according to CNN.
OpenAI's attorneys argued that the company's mission had not changed and that it continues to operate under a non-profit foundation board. The company also contended that Musk filed the lawsuit only after launching his competing artificial intelligence venture, xAI. According to CNN, the jury found that Musk was aware of the actions cited in the lawsuit as early as 2021.
"The finding of the jury confirms that what this lawsuit was was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor. The fact is that OpenAI is a not-for-profit, mission-driven organisation that has been and will continue to be faithful to that mission," OpenAI attorney William Savitt said after the verdict.
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