A DEFIANT Elon Musk has said that he will appeal a judge’s ruling to dismiss his high-stakes lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
A jury in Oakland unanimously ruled against the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, 54, determining that he missed his three-year window to file his lawsuit against the powerhouse tech company.
Musk appeared adamant about Monday’s outcome, saying the judge and jury only ruled on a “calendar technicality” and not the merits of the case.
“There is a no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman & [Greg] Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity,” Musk wrote on X hours after the judge’s ruling.
“The only question is WHEN they did! I will be filing an appeal with the Ninth Circuit, because creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.
“OpenAI was founded to benefit all of humanity.”
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before determining Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit against Altman, 41.
Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in August 2024, alleging the artificial intelligence company strayed from its founding agreement when leaders prioritized profit after promising to keep the tech firm a non-profit dedicated to benefiting humanity.
Musk, who helped create OpenAI in 2015, claimed he had been assured by Altman that the company would remain a non-profit business.
The Tesla founder said he began to have doubts about the direction the company was heading, and felt betrayed.
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before determining Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit against Altman, 41.
Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in August 2024, alleging the artificial intelligence company strayed from its founding agreement when leaders prioritized profit after promising to keep the tech firm a non-profit dedicated to benefiting humanity.
Musk, who helped create OpenAI in 2015, claimed he had been assured by Altman that the company would remain a non-profit business.
The Tesla founder said he began to have doubts about the direction the company was heading, and felt betrayed.
However, OpenAI argued that Musk waited to file the lawsuit until he founded his own competing artificial intelligence company.
Musk stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2018 and launched his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, in 2023.
He then proceeded to sue Altman, OpenAI, and its president Greg Brockman the following year.
The time limits were essential to the case as the jury ruled Musk had exceeded the three-year limit for breach of charitable trust and the two-year threshold for claims of unjust enrichment.
The jury determined that Musk was aware of OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit business as early as 2021, three years before he filed his lawsuit in August 2024.
Under California law, a breach of charitable trust must be filed within three years of the moment the plaintiff knew about the alleged breach.
The nine-person jury found that Musk did not file his lawsuit until after the expiration of the three-year statute of limitation, invalidating his claim.
Musk’s defense team needed to prove that he had no way of knowing that OpenAI had breached its founding agreement before August 5, 2021.
For his claims that OpenAI unjustly enriched themselves, the statute expired after two years, which means Musk needed to prove his claims before August 5, 2022.
Neither Musk, Altman, nor Brockman were present in the courtroom for the verdict.
Marc Toberoff, one of Musk’s attorneys, told The New York Times they plan to appeal the decision.
OpenAI established OpenAI LP, a for-profit subsidiary company in March 2019 under the control of the nonprofit, with an obligation to “humanity as a whole,” TIME reported.
The move came after Musk left the company’s board in 2018.
Musk alleged that his donations were used for commercial purposes without authorization.
He sued OpenAI for $150billion in damages and asked the court to remove Altman and Brockman from their leadership positions.
Musk also wanted to unwind the company’s conversion to a for-profit entity.
“It’s not OK to steal a charity,” Musk said in a testimony at the end of April.
Musk blasted himself as a “fool” who “provided them free funding to create a start-up.””
“I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding to create what would become an $800 billion company.”
“I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything I know, provided all the initial funding,” Musk said on the stand.
Altman had testified that he “was extremely uncomfortable” with Musk’s desire for power within OpenAI, arguing that Musk felt strongly about having total control over the company in the early days.
OpenAI had denied Musk’s allegations throughout the case, claiming Musk was aware of the plans and supported them.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16360597/elon-musk-sam-altman-lawsuit-verdict-open-ai/
