A U.S. federal jury rejected all claims filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, on May 18, 2026 [1].
The ruling ends a high-profile legal battle between the Tesla owner and the creators of ChatGPT. It establishes a legal precedent regarding the timing of corporate disputes in the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence sector.
The verdict was delivered in the U.S. District Court in California [1, 2]. The jury found that the defendants were not liable on any of the claims presented by Musk [3]. According to the court's findings, the lawsuit was dismissed because Musk filed his claims after the applicable statute of limitations had already expired [2, 4].
Musk had sought to hold OpenAI and Altman accountable for the company's shift from a non-profit mission to a capped-profit model. However, the jury determined that he waited too long to initiate the legal process [2, 3]. This procedural failure barred the claims from being heard on their merits, effectively shielding OpenAI from the specific allegations in this suit.
The legal team for the defendants said that the timeline for filing such a suit had long since passed. The jury agreed with this assessment, siding with OpenAI and Altman in the dispute [3].
This outcome prevents Musk from pursuing these specific grievances through this particular legal action. The decision marks a significant victory for OpenAI as it continues to scale its operations and navigate the complexities of its organizational structure [1, 4].
“A U.S. federal jury rejected all claims filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI and its CEO”
This ruling underscores the critical importance of procedural timelines in corporate litigation. By dismissing the case on the statute of limitations rather than the merits of the claims, the court avoided a deeper ruling on OpenAI's non-profit status. This provides the company with a strategic victory and removes a significant legal cloud as it continues to dominate the AI market.
