California jury in Elon Musk lawsuit unanimously sides with OpenAI
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A U.S. jury on Monday ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI, finding the artificial intelligence company not liable to the world’s richest person for having allegedly strayed from its original mission to benefit humanity.
In a unanimous verdict, the jury in Oakland, Calif., Federal Court said Musk had brought his case too late. The jury deliberated less than two hours.
The trial had widely been seen as a critical moment for the future of OpenAI and artificial intelligence generally, both in how it should be used and who should benefit from it.
People use AI for myriad purposes, such as education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnoses and harmful deepfakes.
Following the verdict, Musk’s lawyer said he reserved the right to appeal, but the judge suggested he may have an uphill battle because whether the statute of limitations ran out before Musk sued was a factual issue.
“There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said.
In his 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused OpenAI, its chief executive Sam Altman and its president Greg Brockman of manipulating him into giving $38 million, then going behind his back by attaching a for-profit business to its original nonprofit and accepting tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft and other investors.
Musk called the OpenAI defendants’ conduct “stealing a charity.”
OpenAI was founded by Altman, Musk and several others in 2015. Musk left its board in 2018, and OpenAI set up a for-profit business the next year.
Canada’s privacy watchdog is calling out OpenAI for improperly using Canadians’ personal data to train the first model of ChatGPT. A joint investigation found it violated Canadian privacy laws, leaving adults and children dangerously exposed.
People use AI for myriad purposes such as education, facial recognition, financial advice, journalism, legal research, medical diagnoses and harmful deep-fakes.
Many people express distrust of the technology and worry it could displace people from their jobs.
The verdict followed 11 days of testimony and arguments that saw Musk’s and Altman’s credibility come under repeated attack.
Each side accused the other of being more interested in money than serving the public.
In his closing argument, Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo reminded jurors that several witnesses questioned Altman’s candour or branded him a…
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