Elon Musk loses lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman

The jury in California federal court, Oakland, in a unanimous verdict, held that Musk brought his case too late. The trial in the matter had begun on April 28.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday lost a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman after a US jury found that the artificial intelligence company was not liable to Musk for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.

The jury in California federal court, Oakland, in a unanimous verdict, held that Musk brought his case too late. The trial in the matter had begun on April 28, Reuters reported.

In the lawsuit, Musk had accused Altman of violating a non-profit contract by shifting OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to a for-profit company after the world’s richest person donated $38 million.

Musk argued that Altman swindled him by accepting the $38 million charity and then going back on OpenAI’s original non-profit mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, BBC reported.

The verdict came after 11 days of arguments and testimony which brought Musk and Altman’s credibility under attack. Both the sides accused each other of being more interested in money rather than in serving the humanity.

Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI which launched in 2015 and created ChatGPT later. He left the company in 2018 after his co-founders reportedly denied him control.

A nine-person jury in the verdict stated that Musk waited too long to file the lawsuit and missed the deadline for the statute of limitations.

Altman and OpenAI, which is now valued at over $850 billion, claimed that it was never meant to kept the artificial intelligence company a non-profit forever. OpenAI argued that Musk knew it and filed the case as he couldn’t have unilateral control over the AI company.

During the hearing, Musk told jurors on the stand that, fundamentally, “I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit … very complicated, but it’s actually very simple.” He added, “Which is that it’s not OK to steal a charity.”

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Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday lost a lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman after a US jury found that the artificial intelligence company was not liable to Musk for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.

The jury in California federal court, Oakland, in a unanimous verdict, held that Musk brought his case too late. The trial in the matter had begun on April 28, Reuters reported.

In the lawsuit, Musk had accused Altman of violating a non-profit contract by shifting OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, to a for-profit company after the world’s richest person donated $38 million.

Musk argued that Altman swindled him by accepting the $38 million charity and then going back on OpenAI’s original non-profit mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, BBC reported.

The verdict came after 11 days of arguments and testimony which brought Musk and Altman’s credibility under attack. Both the sides accused each other of being more interested in money rather than in serving the humanity.

Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI which launched in 2015 and created ChatGPT later. He left the company in 2018 after his co-founders reportedly denied him control.

A nine-person jury in the verdict stated that Musk waited too long to file the lawsuit and missed the deadline for the statute of limitations.

Altman and OpenAI, which is now valued at over $850 billion, claimed that it was never meant to kept the artificial intelligence company a non-profit forever. OpenAI argued that Musk knew it and filed the case as he couldn’t have unilateral control over the AI company.

During the hearing, Musk told jurors on the stand that, fundamentally, “I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit … very complicated, but it’s actually very simple.” He added, “Which is that it’s not OK to steal a charity.”