A federal jury in Oakland, California (USA), has ruled against billionaire Elon Musk in the lawsuit against OpenAI, concluding that this artificial intelligence company is not responsible for allegations that deviate from its original mission of serving the interests of humanity.
According to the verdict issued on May 18, the jury members agreed that Mr. Elon Musk filed the lawsuit too late compared to the legal time limit. The deliberation process lasted less than 2 hours after 3 weeks of trial.
The lawsuit is considered one of the most notable legal confrontations in the field of artificial intelligence, not only because of Elon Musk's involvement but also because it raises debate about how AI should be developed and who will benefit from this technology.
The new ruling is assessed as opening a more favorable path for OpenAI to move towards the possibility of initial public offering, in the context that the company may be valued at 1,000 billion USD.
However, the trial also caused certain damage to the image of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. During the trial, many witnesses described Mr. Altman as dishonest, making the personal reputation of OpenAI leaders a topic of debate in court.
After the verdict, Elon Musk announced that he would appeal. On social network X, he continued to accuse Sam Altman and OpenAI Chairman Greg Brockman of taking advantage of the non-profit organization to enrich themselves.
Elon Musk wrote: "Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman actually got rich by stealing a charity. The only problem is when did they do it.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the case, said in court that Elon Musk could face many difficulties if he continued to appeal. According to her, there is "a large amount of evidence" supporting the jury's conclusion that the statute of limitations for filing the lawsuit expired before Elon Musk filed the lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, Elon Musk accused OpenAI and company leaders of manipulating him to contribute 38 million USD to this organization, before secretly switching to a profit-based model and receiving tens of billions of USD of investment from Microsoft and many other investors.
OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and several other co-founders. Elon Musk left the board of directors in 2018, while OpenAI established a profit-oriented division in the following year.
Since then, Elon Musk has built his own artificial intelligence company called xAI, which is now under his SpaceX corporation.
Lawyer Marc Toberoff, representing Elon Musk, said that this ruling could set a precedent for companies to start as non-profits and then switch to business models to raise capital and enrich leaders.
OpenAI rejected all accusations, saying that it was Elon Musk who pursued financial interests and waited too long to make legal claims. OpenAI lawyer Bill Savitt called the lawsuit "a fabricated story" and "a hypocritical attempt to sabotage competitors".
In the 11-day trial and taking statements, both sides continuously attacked each other's credibility. Elon Musk's lawyer Steven Molo emphasized that many witnesses once doubted Sam Altman's honesty.
On the contrary, lawyer Sarah Eddy, representing OpenAI, accused Elon Musk's legal team of using "irrelevant false slogans and accusations".
