By Georgia Wells

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A jury sided with Sam Altman and OpenAI in a landmark lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who alleged that the startup behind the world's most popular chatbot "stole a charity" when it converted into a for-profit company.

The verdict brings to a close a case that fixated the tech world on the grievances and drama of some of the most powerful personalities in artificial intelligence.

The case also dictates the landscape of the world's most prominent AI labs. Musk is racing to hold a public offering for SpaceX, his rocket company, which merged with his struggling AI startup. OpenAI is also seeking a public listing and is trying to regain momentum as rival Anthropic has emerged as a presumptive front-runner.

At its core, the case revolved around Musk's allegation that Altman manipulated him into thinking he was donating tens of millions of dollars to help launch a nonprofit to develop AI for the benefit of humanity only for OpenAI to be turned into a for-profit venture.

In the Oakland, Calif., federal courtroom, OpenAI's lawyers argued that Musk not only knew about the plan to create the for-profit structure but that he supported it and sought to control the venture. Only when OpenAI's leaders rejected his request and Musk left to start his own company did he pursue his suit against OpenAI, the lawyers claimed.

Musk, meanwhile, sought the removal of OpenAI CEO Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman from their leadership roles, an unwinding of the company's recent conversion to a more traditional governance structure and damages worth more than $180 billion to be paid into an OpenAI foundation.

In closing arguments, both sides took turns painting the other's client as untrustworthy. "Five witnesses in this trial called him a liar under oath," Musk's lawyer, Steven Molo, said of OpenAI's Altman.

"To succeed in AI, it turns out, all Mr. Musk can do is come to court," OpenAI attorney William Savitt said Thursday.

The case also featured testimony from A-list tech names including Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, as well as Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and mother to four of Musk's children.

The trial produced voluminous documents and evidence about OpenAI's founding, business and an episode in 2023 when Altman was briefly fired by the company's board before being reinstated, an event insiders call "the blip."

Among those were excerpts from the personal diary of OpenAI President Brockman, including one that read: "Financially, what will take me to $1B?" In testimony, Brockman revealed his stake in OpenAI is now worth close to $30 billion.

News Corp, owner of The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.

Write to Georgia Wells at georgia.wells@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2026 13:35 ET (17:35 GMT)

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