Elon Musk has been cleared to take his lawsuit against OpenAI to a jury, after a federal judge in Oakland, California, ruled that the evidence could support claims about the company’s original nonprofit commitments. The judge said the record suggests OpenAI may have pledged to remain a nonprofit organisation before later operating in a profit-driven form.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before leaving the company in 2018 and now heads the competing firm xAI, alleges that OpenAI’s leadership, including CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, departed from the lab’s founding purpose by building a multibillion-dollar enterprise. According to the complaint, the shift favoured corporate interests, particularly Microsoft, rather than OpenAI’s stated mission to benefit the public.
Judge Finds Claims For Jury To Decide
At a court hearing on Wednesday, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI raises questions that should be answered by a jury, not decided by a judge behind closed doors. She pointed to unresolved disagreements over OpenAI’s early promises and Musk’s financial backing as reasons the case should move forward.
While the judge said she will soon issue a written ruling on OpenAI’s request to dismiss the case, she signalled that Musk’s main allegations, including fraud and breach of contract, will remain intact. Other claims have already been rejected in earlier decisions.
The lawsuit is now set for a jury trial in March 2026. The court agreed to move the case quickly because OpenAI’s plans to restructure the company and raise large sums of money hinge on how its legal status is ultimately resolved. The judge also raised another key question for jurors: whether Musk waited too long to sue; a decision that could limit how much, if anything, he can recover.
Musk’s Allegations Over OpenAI’s Transformation
Elon Musk says he helped build OpenAI not just with money, but with influence. According to his lawsuit, Musk provided about $38 million, roughly 60% of the organisation’s early funding, along with strategic advice and the credibility of his name. He says he did so only because OpenAI had promised to remain a nonprofit focused on open research and safe AI for the public.
That promise, Musk argues, was later broken. His complaint accuses Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of planning a shift toward a profit-driven business, a move that eventually led to large investment and licensing deals with Microsoft and a restructuring that weakened the nonprofit’s control.
Musk is now seeking to claw back what he calls “ill-got gains,” claiming OpenAI benefited commercially from technology and goodwill built during its nonprofit years. The lawsuit also argues that OpenAI’s close ties with Microsoft turned the lab into an effectively closed-source operation, the opposite of its original pledge to share AI breakthroughs openly.
OpenAI’s Response And Industry Implications
OpenAI and its leaders say Elon Musk’s lawsuit has no merit. Executives, including Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, argue that Musk is acting as a commercial rival, trying to slow down OpenAI while promoting his own competing AI company, xAI.
Microsoft, which is also being sued, has asked the court to throw out the claims against it. The company says it had no involvement in any promises Musk says OpenAI made long before Microsoft invested, and that there is no evidence it encouraged or supported any misconduct.
The case is moving forward at a critical moment for OpenAI. The company is pushing to raise large sums of new money, including a reported $40 billion funding round and a massive stock grant plan for employees, both tied to its for-profit structure. Legal analysts say the outcome could matter far beyond this dispute, shaping how courts treat early mission statements and informal assurances when fast-growing AI labs later seek major outside investment.
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