A nine-member advisory jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 18, 2026 unanimously dismissed Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman and Microsoft, finding that Musk had filed his claims after the applicable statute of limitations had expired. <cite index="5-3,5-4">U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately accepted the advisory verdict in Musk v. Altman.</cite>
<cite index="3-6">The nine-person jury, serving in an advisory role, found that Musk missed the three-year window to file a claim.</cite> <cite index="3-4">OpenAI had argued that Musk waited too long and could not claim any harm that occurred before August 2021.</cite> <cite index="2-3,2-4,2-5,2-6">The jury reached its conclusion after about 90 minutes of deliberation. Judge Gonzalez Rogers said she agreed with the jury, stating that the court would accept the jury's findings as its own and that there was substantial evidence to support those findings.</cite>
Background and Claims
<cite index="2-7,2-8">Musk helped cofound and fund OpenAI, contributing $38 million in its early years. He sued Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI in February 2024, alleging that they "stole a charity" and unjustly enriched themselves when they shifted to a structure that includes a for-profit arm.</cite> <cite index="1-25,1-26">Musk also sued Microsoft for aiding OpenAI through investments totaling $13 billion between 2019 and 2023; that claim was also dismissed.</cite>
<cite index="2-19">Musk had asked the court to force OpenAI to pay back more than $130 billion to OpenAI's nonprofit arm, remove Altman and Brockman from their leadership roles and unwind the corporate restructuring that turned OpenAI into one of the world's most valuable technology companies.</cite> <cite index="3-14,3-15">Musk was seeking $150 billion in damages and Altman's removal from company leadership. A decision in Musk's favor could also have forced changes to OpenAI's business structure and disrupted the company's plan to go public, expected later this year.</cite>
Trial Record
<cite index="3-12,3-13">The decision capped a three-week trial in an Oakland courtroom that pitted Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, against Altman. Both entrepreneurs testified during the trial, along with OpenAI and Microsoft executives and legal experts.</cite>
Central to the timing dispute were two events that OpenAI's counsel argued should have put Musk on notice. <cite index="5-15,5-16">In 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary, under which employees and investors would receive a capped return on their investment. At the same time, the company secured a $1 billion investment from Microsoft.</cite> <cite index="5-20,5-21">In 2020, when Microsoft secured an exclusive license to OpenAI's GPT-3 model, Musk posted on X: "This does seem like the opposite of open. OpenAI is essentially captured by Microsoft." OpenAI argued that Musk had reason to sue then.</cite> <cite index="5-10,5-11">The jury found Musk did in fact have reason to think that he was being misled by Altman and Brockman before 2021. They did not address whether he was in fact misled.</cite>
Reactions and Appeal
<cite index="3-10,3-11">Musk said on social media that he plans to appeal the ruling, writing on X that "the judge & jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case, just on a calendar technicality."</cite> <cite index="5-13">Musk has said he will appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a federal appellate court that reviews decisions from district courts in California and other states.</cite>
<cite index="2-16,2-17">"The finding of the jury confirms that what this lawsuit was was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor," William Savitt, OpenAI's attorney, said after the verdict, adding that OpenAI is a mission-driven organization that will remain faithful to that mission.</cite> <cite index="2-10">A Microsoft spokesperson said the company welcomed the jury's decision to dismiss the claims as untimely.</cite>
<cite index="2-9">Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and started his own AI company, xAI, in 2023.</cite> <cite index="1-24">OpenAI's lawyers argued at trial that the lawsuit was an attempt to hurt a competitor.</cite>