Updated
May 18,
2026, 4:50 p.m. ET16 minutes ago
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/18/technology/openai-trial-verdict-altman-musk
Live
Updates: Jury Rejects Musk’s Claims Against OpenAI
Elon Musk
accused OpenAI of putting commercial gain over the public good, but jurors
ruled that the statute of limitations had expired. Mr. Musk said he planned to
appeal, skewering the decision and the judge on X.
Cade Metz
Mike
Isaac
Updated
May 18,
2026, 4:47 p.m. ET19 minutes ago
Cade Metz
and Mike Isaac Reporting from the courthouse
Here’s
the latest.
A jury on
Monday rejected Elon Musk’s lawsuit claiming that OpenAI, the artificial
intelligence company he co-founded, had violated its original mission by
putting commercial interests over the good of humanity.
The
closely watched case had the potential to upend the fast-growing A.I.
landscape. Mr. Musk accused OpenAI and its leaders, Sam Altman and Greg
Brockman, of “stealing a charity” by attaching a commercial company to the
start-up’s original nonprofit and taking billions of dollars in investments
from Microsoft.
But the
jury in Oakland, Calif., didn’t rule on the merits of the argument. Instead, it
found that Mr. Musk did not bring his lawsuit until after the three-year
statute of limitations expired, nullifying his claim. Mr. Musk filed his suit
against the $730 billion artificial intelligence start-up in the summer of
2024, but the jury found that he was aware of the behavior discussed in his
complaint against OpenAI as far back as 2021.
That
means that the jury found that OpenAI; Mr. Altman, its chief executive; and
Greg Brockman, its president, were not liable for the claims Mr. Musk brought
against the company.
Mr. Musk
said on X that he intended to appeal the decision, writing that “creating a
precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in
America.” He skewered the judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, calling her a
“terrible activist Oakland judge” who “simply used the jury as a fig leaf.”
“She just
handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet
for a few years!” he wrote.
Mr.
Altman is now free to solidify his control of OpenAI, which appears headed
toward one of the largest initial public offerings in history. The company also
will be free to pursue a data center expansion plan that could cost hundreds of
billions of dollars.
Mr. Musk
had asked for $150 billion in damages and wanted Mr. Altman to be kicked off
OpenAI’s board of directors. He also wanted to unwind a move that OpenAI made
to become a for-profit company ahead of an initial public offering as early as
this year.
(The New
York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of
news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s
claims.)
Here’s
what else to know:
OpenAI
reaction: In the hallway outside the courtroom, lawyers for OpenAI hugged and
congratulated one another with big slaps on the back. William Savitt, OpenAI’s
lead counsel, said outside the courthouse that he was “delighted” by the
verdict. “I can’t say whether Mr. Musk will appeal, but we are very, very
confident in our case,” he said.
Microsoft
not liable: The jury’s decision means that Microsoft, OpenAI’s chief partner
and another defendant in the case, is also not liable for Mr. Musk’s claims.
His suit accused Microsoft of aiding and abetting OpenAI in breaching its
founding agreement. In a statement, Microsoft said, “The facts and the timeline
in this case have long been clear and we welcome the jury’s decision to dismiss
these claims as untimely.”
Remaining
claims: Some of the claims made in Mr. Musk’s suit still remain. The suit also
made antitrust claims against Microsoft and OpenAI, and these were slated for a
potential second stage of the trial. Judge Gonzalez Rogers said on Monday that
the antitrust claims were “not very good claims” given the aggressive
competition in the A.I. market, but she has not dismissed them.
OpenAI’s
future: The company still faces plenty of threats. Anthropic has aggressively
challenged it for business customers interested in using A.I. in their computer
systems, and Google has been closing the gap in consumer use of the technology.
It is also unclear if Mr. Altman’s credibility has been harmed by days of
testimony in which Mr. Musk’s lawyers portrayed him as untrustworthy.
Natallie
Rocha contributed reporting.
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