Elon Musk lost his lawsuit against OpenAI on May 18, after a jury ruled the company was not liable for departing from its mission to benefit humanity.
The jury, which deliberated for only two hours, found Musk’s legal challenge fell outside the statute of limitations.
Musk’s suit, filed in 2024, accused OpenAI and its leadership of asking for $38 million for what was intended to be a nonprofit, only to shift to a for-profit model and collect tens of billions in investment funds from Microsoft and others.
Musk’s attorney said he may appeal, but U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that may prove futile.
"There's a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury's finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot," she said.
Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside its CEO Sam Altman and others, in 2015. He left its board in 2018, and the company switched to a for-profit business model the next year.
The company is prepping for a public offering that could total up to $1 trillion in valuation. Microsoft has so far invested $100 billion in OpenAI, one of its executives testified.