Jamaine Punzalan

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17791548623061779154859893.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 30, 2025. Allison Robbert, AFP/File</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div></div><p>A federal jury ruled Monday that Elon Musk waited too long to<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/4/25/billionaire-elon-musk-enters-courtroom-showdown-with-openai-1203"> sue OpenAI and its co-founders</a>, delivering a decisive victory to the ChatGPT startup and ending one of Silicon Valley&#x27;s most closely watched courtroom battles.</p><p>The swift decision caps a three-week trial that saw a parade of tech titans take the stand, with Musk arguing that OpenAI&#x27;s pivot to a profit-driven business <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/4/29/don-t-loot-a-charity-musk-takes-stand-against-openai-0933">betrayed its original nonprofit mandate.</a></p><p>The jury in Oakland federal court found that Musk&#x27;s claims against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, The OpenAI Foundation and Microsoft were barred by statutes of limitations, leaving the billionaire&#x27;s core arguments largely unaddressed.</p><p>Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who had asked the jury to advise her on the matter, accepted and confirmed their decision.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;SABOTAGE&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The outcome spared OpenAI from a potentially existential legal threat.</p><p>Had Musk prevailed, he was seeking to force the company to revert to its nonprofit structure -- a move that would have derailed its planned IPO and unwound ties to major investors including Microsoft, Amazon and SoftBank.</p><p>&quot;The finding of the jury confirms that this lawsuit was a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor,&quot; OpenAI attorney William Savitt said outside the courthouse.</p><p>&quot;Musk can bring his claims, and he can tell his stories, but what the nine members of this jury found is that his stories were just that -- stories, not facts,&quot; he added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/4/29/don-t-loot-a-charity-musk-takes-stand-against-openai-0933">Don&#x27;t &#x27;loot a charity&#x27;: Musk takes stand against OpenAI </a></div><p>Musk, the world&#x27;s richest person, had sued OpenAI over its transformation from a scrappy nonprofit into the $850 billion juggernaut behind ChatGPT, claiming Altman and Brockman improperly used a $38 million donation intended to sustain OpenAI as a research lab devoted to developing AI for the benefit of humanity.</p><p>But in their deliberations, the jury first had to resolve a threshold issue of whether Musk, who filed suit in 2024 -- four years after his last contribution -- had done so within the statutory time limit.</p><p>Musk on X said he would appeal the case as the &quot;jury never actually ruled on the merits of the case&quot; and that to &quot;loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.&quot;</p><p>The Tesla tycoon also lashed out at Judge Gonzalez Rogers for setting a &quot;terrible precedent,&quot; accusing her of being an &quot;activist judge&quot; who used the jury as a &quot;fig leaf&quot; for a flawed ruling she could have made herself.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;SOAP OPERA&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The outcome had largely been expected to come down to which of the bickering billionaires the jury would believe.</p><p>Testimony centered heavily on Altman&#x27;s integrity and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that rankled colleagues, many of whom have since left OpenAI.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/5/6/elon-musk-was-going-to-hit-me-openai-executive-says-at-trial-1140">Elon Musk &#x27;was going to hit me,&#x27; OpenAI executive says at trial </a></div><p>OpenAI&#x27;s attorneys countered with attacks on Musk, pointing to his varying narratives about the early days of the company and parsing testimony from Shivon Zilis -- a business associate with whom he has four children -- who served as an intermediary between the executives.</p><p>Altman, fired by OpenAI&#x27;s board in November 2023 for a lack of candor before being reinstated under employee pressure, emerged with allegations of manipulation and a toxic work culture unresolved.</p><p>Microsoft, OpenAI&#x27;s largest backer with $13 billion committed, was also spared.</p><p>&quot;This is an important victory for Altman and OpenAI and clears the path for an IPO by removing this black cloud,&quot; Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities told AFP.</p><p>&quot;Musk was creating noise around this lawsuit but ultimately it was more of a soap opera than a long-term negative for OpenAI,&quot; he added.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2026/4/30/-i-literally-was-a-fool-musk-grilled-in-openai-trial-0740">&#x27;I literally was a fool&#x27;: Musk grilled in OpenAI trial </a></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4gixAtF-bTM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KGOq_PdKOWw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>A federal jury ruled Monday that Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its co-founders, delivering a decisive victory to the ChatGPT startup and ending one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched courtroom battles.</p>

A federal jury ruled Monday that Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its co-founders, delivering a decisive victory to the ChatGPT startup and ending one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched courtroom battles.

Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late

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Musk loses blockbuster OpenAI suit as jury says too late

Agence France-Presse

Published May 19, 2026 09:39 AM PHT

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Updated May 19, 2026 09:41 AM PHT

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