Sam Altman Defeats Elon Musk in OpenAI Court Case

Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and Tesla, lost the lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive officer, Sam Altman. The suit concerns Musk’s allegation that OpenAI had strayed from its original mission as a non-profit organisation after forming for-profit business entities and accepting substantial investment from Microsoft. However, a federal court in Oakland, California, United States, rejected Musk’s lawsuit on Monday, 18 May 2026 local time. The decision was reached by a jury after less than two hours of deliberation. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers then approved the verdict and formally dismissed the entire Musk case. Shortly after the ruling was read, Musk condemned Judge Rogers on the social media platform X, calling her an “activist judge”. He also confirmed he will appeal the decision. “The court and jury never really decided the substance of the case, only a technical issue of timing,” Musk wrote on X (Twitter) via account @elonmusk. Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, also confirmed they will take the matter to the appellate level. This loss is a major blow for Musk and a significant victory for Sam Altman. The ruling also opens the door for OpenAI to proceed with its planned initial public offering (IPO), which has been described as potentially one of the largest in the history of the technology industry. Elon Musk sued OpenAI, Sam Altman, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman in February 2024. He accused OpenAI of straying from its original mission as a non-profit after forming for-profit entities and accepting billions of dollars in investment from Microsoft. Musk himself was an early investor in OpenAI and helped found the company in 2015. In the suit, Musk accused OpenAI of “stealing the charity” to enrich its top executives.