Musk loses OpenAI lawsuit as legal streak worsens

Elon Musk suffered another courtroom defeat Monday when a jury rejected his lawsuit against OpenAI and co-founder Sam Altman, capping a year in which the billionaire has lost six major legal battles with little sign of retreat.

The verdict in San Francisco closes a chapter in a bitter dispute that began in 2022 when Musk accused OpenAI of abandoning its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft and commercializing artificial intelligence. Legal analysts say the loss is particularly damaging because it stems from a claim that directly challenges the core values Musk once championed—open access to AI.

This defeat follows a string of setbacks starting in December 2023, when a Delaware judge voided Tesla’s $56 billion pay package for Musk, forcing a restructuring and relocation to Texas. In March, investors in X (formerly Twitter) won a fraud case against him, alleging misleading statements during the platform’s $44 billion acquisition. A month later, judges blocked cuts to government grants he oversaw at DOGE, ruling they violated constitutional rights.

Legal scholars now question whether the pattern of losses will temper Musk’s litigious approach. Syracuse University law professor Shubha Ghosh said Musk’s courtroom strategy resembles other billionaires who use litigation to assert control but warned that repeated failures could erode public trust.

Columbia Law School’s Dorothy Lund compared Musk’s courtroom tactics to Donald Trump’s playbook—unafraid of public backlash and willing to absorb penalties. “He does what he wants and sometimes gets a slap on the wrist, so why would he change?” she said. Despite a $1.5 million SEC fine for failing to disclose Twitter stock purchases, Musk has shown no signs of slowing down. His SpaceX IPO plans were announced during the OpenAI trial, defying SEC “quiet period” rules typically followed by companies going public.

Ghosh noted that Musk’s unorthodox moves—like announcing SpaceX’s IPO mid-trial—suggest a disregard for conventional risk management. “He’s not afraid of public opinion or taking big swings,” Ghosh said. “But the courtroom isn’t a boardroom, and repeated losses may eventually force a shift in strategy.”