Billionaire Elon Musk loses to Sam Altman in historic lawsuit.

On May 18, Reuters reported that all nine juries in a federal court in Oakland, California, agreed that billionaire Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman was "past the statute of limitations."

The court concluded that Musk was aware of the problems since 2021 but only filed the lawsuit in 2024. Therefore, OpenAI is not liable to Musk's accusation of deviating from its original non-profit mission.

Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman in 2024, alleging that Altman and Greg Brockman, co-founders of OpenAI, "manipulated" him to obtain $38 million, then merged with another company and received tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft. Musk stated that these actions caused OpenAI to lose sight of its original mission of building safe AI for the benefit of all humanity.

Sam Altman ( left ) and Elon Musk at the trial.

PHOTO: REUTERS

OpenAI countered that Musk was the one who only saw profit and waited too long before declaring OpenAI in violation of the agreement.

Musk said he would appeal, reiterating his claim that Altman and OpenAI chairman Greg Brockman viewed OpenAI as a means to get rich.

Marc Toberoff, Musk's lawyer, said the ruling could encourage startups, which begin as non-profit organizations but have greater ambitions to raise capital, to establish for-profit entities to scale and enrich their leaders. "This is a whole new formula for Silicon Valley," Reuters quoted Toberoff as saying.

Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman: Why is there a legal battle between these two tech moguls?

OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Altman, Musk, and several other co-founders. Musk left the board in 2018. A year later, OpenAI began operating as a for-profit business.

The latest court ruling paves the way for OpenAI to proceed with its initial public offering (IPO) valued at up to $1 trillion. Musk lost the case, but CEO Sam Altman also faces significant reputational challenges. According to Reuters, several witnesses in the trial described Altman as a liar.

On his X account, Musk wrote: "Altman and Brockman have truly enriched themselves by embezzling money from a charity. The only question is when they did it. Setting a precedent to 'pocket' charity funds is extremely damaging."

Alongside suing OpenAI and Sam Altman, billionaire Musk founded an AI startup called xAI, which was later merged into SpaceX. This aerospace company is also preparing for an IPO, which could surpass even OpenAI in scale.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ti-phu-elon-musk-thua-sam-altman-trong-vu-kien-lich-su-185260519111414048.htm