{"id":678141,"date":"2026-05-18T19:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/678141\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T19:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T19:58:08","slug":"jury-hands-victory-to-sam-altman-and-openai-in-battle-with-elon-musk-ai-artificial-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/678141\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury hands victory to Sam Altman and OpenAI in battle with Elon Musk | AI (artificial intelligence)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A jury ruled in favor of Sam Altman<\/a> in the culmination of a long and bitter legal battle that pitted the richest person in the world against a leader of the AI boom.<\/p>\n

The federal jury in Oakland, California, found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup.<\/p>\n

The verdict, delivered after less than two hours of deliberation, is a stark rebuke of Musk and his lawyer\u2019s claims that Altman \u201cstole a charity\u201d through his leadership of OpenAI<\/a>. It also provides the AI firm with a clear path ahead to pursue going public later this year at about a $1tn valuation.<\/p>\n

The jury\u2019s finding is a non-binding, advisory verdict that left judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers with ultimate power to issue her own ruling in the case. Gonzalez Rogers immediately said that she would agree with the jury\u2019s decision and dismissed Musk\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury\u2019s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,\u201d Gonzalez Rogers told Musk\u2019s lawyer after the verdict.<\/p>\n

The jury found that Musk\u2019s lawsuit, which was filed in 2024, did not fall within the statute of limitations to bring his case. One of the key legal arguments in the trial surrounded whether the harms that Musk alleged took place \u2013 including his breach of charitable trust claim \u2013 occurred before certain dates. OpenAI argued that Musk was well aware of the company\u2019s plans to pursue a for-profit structure as early as 2017 and therefore his case was filed outside the three-year limit.<\/p>\n

The scene at the courthouse<\/p>\n

After the verdict was read, the lawyers started packing up their boxes, and the courtroom emptied out. During a press conference in front of the courthouse, OpenAI lead attorney William Savitt said the jury took into account hundreds of pieces of evidence and listened to weeks of testimony to ultimately find Musk\u2019s case was a \u201chypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Musk can tell his stories,\u201d Savitt said. \u201cWhat the jury found today is just that: Stories, not facts.\u201d He added that the jury\u2019s verdict was \u201cnot a technical decision; it\u2019s a substantive one\u201d.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s attorneys Steven Molo and Marc Toberoff, meanwhile, framed the case as having proved a point and exposed OpenAI, regardless of their loss. Molo claimed that the testimony was \u201cvaluable for the world to see\u201d and that the jury\u2019s decision was a \u201ctechnical\u201d one.<\/p>\n

Toberoff said that Musk would appeal against the verdict and referenced famous American Revolutionary war battles, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reminds me of key moments in this country\u2019s history,\u201d Toberoff said. \u201cThere were major losses, but we won the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Musk, Altman or Brockman were present in court for the verdict.<\/p>\n

The nine-person jury in Oakland began deliberating the case on Monday morning after a three-week trial<\/a> that featured several of Silicon Valley\u2019s most prominent executives taking the stand. Musk, Altman, Brockman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella all gave testimony in the case, at times facing combative cross-examinations in the courtroom.<\/p>\n

Microsoft, which Musk accused in his lawsuit of aiding and abetting Altman, was also found not liable in the jury\u2019s verdict. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe facts and the timeline in this case have long been clear, and we welcome the jury\u2019s decision to dismiss these claims as untimely,\u201d a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A battle between two titans<\/p>\n

The verdict caps off one of the most closely watched trials in tech<\/a>, which delivered a look behind the scenes at OpenAI\u2019s fractious history and the fight between two of the industry\u2019s biggest names. Although a victory for Altman, the case made public many unflattering details and episodes involving both moguls.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s lawsuit sought $134bn to be redistributed from OpenAI\u2019s for-profit arm to its non-profit. It also demanded the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles at OpenAI, as well as the undoing of the firm\u2019s for-profit restructuring.<\/p>\n

At the core of the case was Musk\u2019s allegations that Altman, Brockman and OpenAI broke a founding agreement when they restructured the company into a for-profit entity. Musk accused the defendants of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment, claiming that Altman swindled him into co-founding OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit to better humanity then later twisting it to pursue personal gain.<\/p>\n

OpenAI rejected all of Musk\u2019s claims and stated that he was always aware of plans to create a for-profit entity. Attorneys for the firm argued that Musk was motivated by jealousy after he made a failed attempt to take over OpenAI in 2018 and left the company shortly after. OpenAI also repeatedly stated that it is still overseen by its nonprofit organization and dedicated to what it refers to as \u201cthe mission\u201d of helping the world with its technology.<\/p>\n

The trial brought in many current and former OpenAI executives<\/a> to testify on the history of the company, as well as academic experts on nonprofit law and corporate governance. Lawyers for both sides presented stacks of private texts, emails and other internal documents to build a narrative of the firm\u2019s founding, specifically when the litigants became aware of OpenAI\u2019s for-profit plans.<\/p>\n

Although the jury delivered the verdict on whether there was liability in the case, Gonzalez Rogers was in charge of what remedies OpenAI would have faced if there was a favorable verdict for Musk. The remedies portion of the case, which began on Monday, was canceled as a result of the verdict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A jury ruled in favor of Sam Altman in the culmination of a long and bitter legal battle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-678141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}