Elon Musk Loses $134 Billion Lawsuit Against OpenAI in Just Two Hours
The Elon Musk OpenAI lawsuit that gripped the tech world is over, and it ended fast. A jury in Oakland, California dismissed the case against Sam Altman and OpenAI after just two hours of deliberation, dealing Musk a swift and decisive defeat. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers upheld the verdict and went even further, saying she was prepared to dismiss the case on the spot. “There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding,” she said. The lawsuit against Microsoft, a major OpenAI investor since 2019, was also tossed out.
Musk filed the suit in 2024, claiming OpenAI had broken its founding promise to operate as a non-profit organization. He sought up to $134 billion in what he called “ill-gotten gains” and demanded the removal of both Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman.
The case against Musk did not go quietly for the plaintiff either. OpenAI’s legal team argued that Musk himself had proposed a for-profit structure for the company, provided he retained control, and even suggested his children could inherit oversight of human-level AI. Those revelations appeared to resonate with the jury.
The Elon Musk OpenAI lawsuit may not be entirely finished. Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, reserved the right to appeal after the verdict was read, leaving open the possibility of another legal round ahead.
