Elon Musk loses lawsuit against OpenAI
Deepa Seetharaman, Jonathan Stempel and Greg Bensinger
OAKLAND, California May 18 (Reuters) – A U.S. jury ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against him on Monday. OpenAIfind artificial intelligence The company will not be liable to the world’s richest person for allegedly straying from its original mission to benefit humanity.
The jury in federal court in Oakland, California, said in a unanimous verdict that Musk filed his case too late.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
The trial was seen as a critical moment for the future of OpenAI and artificial intelligence in general, both in terms of how it should be used and who should benefit from it.
After the ruling, Musk’s lawyer said he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested Musk may have an uphill battle because whether the statute of limitations had expired before filing suit was a real issue.
“There is a significant amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, so I was prepared to be dismissed on the spot,” US said. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said.
In his 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, and Chairman Greg Brockman of manipulating him into giving him $38 million, then going behind his back by adding a nonprofit business alongside the original nonprofit and accepting tens of billions of dollars from him. Microsoft and other investors.
Musk called the OpenAI defendants’ behavior “stealing charity.”
OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, Musk, and several others. Musk left the board in 2018, and OpenAI launched a for-profit business the next year.
People are using AI for countless purposes, including education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnoses, and harmful fake information.
Many people express distrust of technology and worry that it could put people out of their jobs.
The decision came after 11 days of testimony and debate in which Musk and Altman’s credibility was repeatedly attacked.
Each side accused the other of being more interested in money than serving the people.
In his closing argument, Musk’s attorney, Steven Molo, reminded jurors that many witnesses had questioned Altman’s candor or branded him a liar, and that Musk had not given an unqualified yes when asked during the trial whether he was completely trustworthy.
“Sam Altman’s credibility is directly in question,” Molo said. “If you don’t believe in it, they can’t win.”
Musk accused OpenAI of “trying to unjustly enrich investors and insiders at the expense of the nonprofit and not prioritizing the safety of artificial intelligence.” He also claimed that Microsoft knew from the beginning that OpenAI cared more about money than altruism.
