May 18 (Reuters) – A U.S. jury in Oakland, California, ruled against Elon Musk in his lawsuit against OpenAI on Monday, finding the artificial intelligence company not liable for allegedly straying from its original mission to benefit humanity.
In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the jury said Musk had brought the case too late.
COMMENTS:
DAN IVES, ANALYST AT WEDBUSH:
“This is a huge win for (CEO Sam) Altman and OpenAI despite the scrapes and bruises on Altman’s persona and leadership, as it removes a significant overhang on the company’s operations, with this now viewed as a ‘nothing impact’ for OpenAI.”
“This was a huge sigh of relief for OpenAI as it removes the $134 billion overhang on the company’s operations, which would have caused significant damage on the company’s path to going public and its IPO in the coming year, while keeping Altman at the helm over the coming years.”
JAMES RUBINOWITZ, TRIAL ATTORNEY AND AI SPECIALIST:
“That is the cleanest possible legal win for OpenAI, because the court never had to defend any of the underlying conduct. They only had to prove the clock had run, and they did.”
“This verdict removes the single largest legal threat to a public offering that is reportedly being priced at up to one trillion dollars. Expect IPO filing activity to accelerate over the next thirty to sixty days.”
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
