Elon Musk's case against OpenAI and its CEO goes to court; here's what judge said that makes it 'bad news' for Sam Altman

A California judge has rejected OpenAI’s motion to end Elon Musk’s case against the ChatGPT maker, scheduling a trial for March. Musk, in a 2024 lawsuit, has alleged that OpenAI violated its founding mission in its high-profile restructuring to a for-profit entity. During a court hearing to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to warrant a jury trial, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said that there was “plenty of evidence”, reports Reuters. “It's circumstantial, but that's how these things work,” Rogers said, adding “This case is going to trial”.


Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 along with CEO Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. He left in 2018 due to disagreements over control and direction of the company.

Elon Musk’s allegations against OpenAI

In a 2024 lawsuit, The billionaire entrepreneur alleges that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity and instead prioritised commercial interests.


Elon Musk claims that OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft resulted in significant funding and resources for the company, which is a breach of the company's founding contract.


“After Musk lent his name to the venture, invested significant time, tens of millions of dollars in seed capital, and recruited top Al scientists for OpenAI, Inc., Musk and the non-profit's namesake objective were betrayed by Altman and his accomplices. The perfidy and deceit are of Shakespearean proportions,” the lawsuit claims.


“Once OpenAI, Inc.'s technology approached transformative AGI, Altman flipped the narrative and proceeded to cash in,” it added.

What the California judge said dismissing Sam Altman’s plea

As quoted in a Business Insider report, Judge Rogers said that there was enough evidence that Musk may have been deceived to allow the case to move forward to a jury. “There were assurances made, and promises made, that the structure would be maintained,” she said. “There was lots of information that was not shared.” She further added that she also felt "there are strong arguments by the defense."


"I think the jury is going to get to decide," she said per the BI report.

What OpenAI says

OpenAI has denied Musk’s allegations against the company. In a statement to the publication, an OpenAI spokesperson said “Mr Musk's lawsuit continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial”, adding “We remain focused on empowering the OpenAI Foundation, which is already one of the best resourced nonprofits ever.”