OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft will face a jury trial this spring after a federal judge rejected their efforts to dismiss Elon Musk\u2019s lawsuit, which accuses the artificial intelligence startup of abandoning its original nonprofit mission. The ruling keeps alive claims that OpenAI misled the Tesla CEO about its charitable purpose while accepting billions of dollars in funding.<\/p>\n
As noted in a report from Bloomberg News<\/a>, a federal judge in Oakland, California, ruled that OpenAI Inc. and Microsoft failed to show that Musk\u2019s claims should be dismissed. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that while the evidence remains unclear, Musk has maintained that OpenAI \u201chad a specific charitable purpose and that he attached two fundamental terms to it: that OpenAI be open source and that it would remain a nonprofit \u2014 purposes consistent with OpenAI\u2019s charter and mission.\u201d<\/p>\n Judge Gonzalez Rogers also rejected an argument by OpenAI<\/a> suggesting that Musk\u2019s use of an intermediary to donate $38 million in seed money to the company stripped him of legal standing. \u201cHolding otherwise would significantly reduce the enforcement of a large swath of charitable trusts, contrary to the modern trend,\u201d Judge Gonzalez Rogers wrote.<\/p>\n A federal judge today denied OpenAI’s motion for summary judgement in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. Microsoft’s motion for summary judgement was also mostly denied, but granted in part. <\/p>\n The case will continue on to trial. pic.twitter.com\/45kOqJBfaN<\/a>\u2014 Whole Mars Catalog (@wholemars) January 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The judge also declined to dismiss Musk\u2019s fraud allegations, citing internal OpenAI communications from 2017 involving co-founder Greg Brockman. In an email cited by the judge, fellow OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis informed Musk that Brockman would \u201clike to continue with the non-profit structure.\u201d<\/p>\n Just two months later, however, Brockman wrote in a private note that he \u201ccannot say that we are committed to the non-profit. don\u2019t want to say that we\u2019re committed. if three months later we\u2019re doing b-corp then it was a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n Marc Toberoff, a member of Musk\u2019s legal team, said Judge Gonzalez Rogers\u2019s ruling confirms that \u201cthere is substantial evidence that OpenAI\u2019s leadership made knowingly false assurances to Mr. Musk about its charitable mission that they never honored in favor of their personal self-enrichment.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI, for its part, maintained that Musk\u2019s legal efforts are baseless. In a statement, the AI startup said it is looking forward to the upcoming trial. \u201cMr. Musk\u2019s lawsuit continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial. We remain focused on empowering the OpenAI Foundation, which is already one of the best-resourced nonprofits ever,\u201d OpenAI stated.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t