Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Monday persuaded a judge to allow a jury trial to proceed over his claims that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI violated its founding mission during its high-profile restructuring into a for-profit entity. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015, left the company in 2018 and now runs rival AI firm xAI.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, said at a hearing that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting OpenAI’s leaders made assurances that its original nonprofit structure was going to be maintained.
The judge said there were enough disputed facts to let a jury consider the claims at a trial scheduled for March, rather than decide the issues herself. She said she would issue a written order after the hearing that addresses OpenAI’s bid to throw out the case. Musk is seeking unspecified monetary damages from what he calls “ill-gotten gains” by OpenAI.
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OpenAI said in a statement that the lawsuit “continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial.”
Steven Molo, a lead trial attorney for Musk and xAI, said after the hearing that him and his team “look forward to presenting all the evidence of the defendants’ wrongdoing to the jury.”
Musk claims he contributed about $38 million, roughly 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, along with strategic guidance and credibility, based on assurances that the organization would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit.
The lawsuit accuses OpenAI founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of plotting a for-profit switch “to enrich themselves,” deviating from the company’s original mission. OpenAI, Altman and Brockman have denied the claims, and they called Musk “a frustrated commercial competitor seeking to slow down a mission-driven market leader.”
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OpenAI had claimed that it needed to transition into a for-profit entity because its nonprofit structure wouldn’t be able to support the realization of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Musk had expanded the case in November 2024 to include Microsoft as a defendant. Microsoft urged Gonzalez Rogers to discard the case against it, saying there was no evidence that the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI.
Lawyers for OpenAI at the hearing asked Gonzalez Rogers to enter judgment against Musk, contending that he had not shown enough of a factual basis to sustain his allegations including fraud and breach of contract. OpenAI also claims Musk failed to bring his allegations in a timely manner. Gonzalez Rogers said the jury would be asked to weigh whether the lawsuit was filed outside the statute of limitations.