Closing arguments conclude Musk v. Altman, jury deliberates next week

The first phase of the Musk v. Altman trial concluded with hearings in federal court in Oakland, California, on Thursday, after attorneys for Elon Musk and OpenAI presented their closing arguments to the jury.

The nine-person jury, consisting of six women and three men, will begin deliberations on Monday. The jury’s verdict will be advisory, meaning Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will make the final decision on liability.

“You must decide the case solely on the evidence before you,” Gonzalez Rogers said as he read formal instructions to the jury Thursday morning. “You will remember that you swore to do this.”

In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, and the company’s chairman, Greg Brockman, claiming they had reneged on their pledge to keep the AI ​​startup a nonprofit and unjustly enrich themselves. Musk, who founded OpenAI with Altman and Brockman in 2015, claims that approximately $38 million he donated to the company was used for unauthorized commercial purposes.

During Thursday’s hearings, Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo repeated his claims that OpenAI failed to open source its technology, failed to prioritize AI security and failed to follow nonprofit traditions and practices. He also claimed that OpenAI insiders and investors, including Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI. MicrosoftThey have enriched themselves at Musk’s expense.

OpenAI’s lawyers, Sarah Eddy and William Savitt, pushed back on Molo’s statements on Thursday. They said Altman and Brockman made no commitments to Musk about OpenAI’s corporate structure and that Musk’s donations were spent and used appropriately. They also stated: Tesla’s and SpaceX CEO filed the lawsuit only after launching rival artificial intelligence startup xAI.

“He never cared about the nonprofit structure,” Eddy told the jury. “What he cared about was winning.”

Microsoft He was also named as a defendant in the case, and attorney Russell Cohen presented the company’s closing arguments to the jury. Musk accused Microsoft, OpenAI’s lead investor, of aiding and abetting the company’s alleged breach of charitable trust. Cohen said Microsoft had no knowledge of these events and could not have participated in them.

As the jury begins deliberations on Monday, the second phase of the trial, known as the compensatory phase, will also begin.

Gonzalez Rogers will hear arguments about possible damages and next steps to be taken if OpenAI, Altman and Brockman are found liable. The jury will not weigh in on this stage.

Musk has demanded various outcomes since 2024, when the case was first filed. Finally, he asked the judge to consider removing Altman and Brockman from their positions at OpenAI and relax the company’s 2025 recapitalization.

In January, Musk’s lawyers said their client was entitled to up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, calling them “ill-gotten gains.” His team now says the “ill-gotten gains” should be returned to the OpenAI foundation.

At the solution stage, a decision will be made only if responsibility is determined.

Gonzalez Rogers has presided over previous high-profile technology cases, which may explain why he chose to enlist the aid of an advisory jury.

“Judges normally empanel advisory juries when they want jurors to decide based on community judgment or when they want to ‘hide’ a highly visible case,” Steven Baicker-McKee, an associate law professor at Duquesne University, told CNBC.

Former President Barack Obama appointed Gonzalez Rogers to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2011, and he previously handled the antitrust case between Epic Games and Apple.

Gonzalez Rogers, Musk v. In the early stages of his trial, Altman showed little patience for any nonsense from the lawyers, repeatedly berating representatives of both sides when they crossed the line.

“You don’t want to be held in contempt, I guarantee you,” a lawyer warned on Tuesday.

But Gonzalez Rogers was warm and friendly to the jurors, cracking jokes and once even bringing them chocolate. He concluded Thursday’s hearing by reminding the jury that lunch would be served during deliberations.

—CNBC’s Kate Rooney contributed to this report.

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