lawsuits
Musk v. Altman — OpenAI Lawsuit Tracker
Source-backed tracker for Musk v. Altman (N.D. Cal.) — parties, docket anchors, allegations vs findings, OpenAI response.
Musk v. Altman is the marquee legal case of the AI Wars lane: Elon Musk suing Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI-related entities, and others over alleged betrayal of OpenAI’s founding nonprofit mission. This page tracks the public court record and keeps a hard line between docket facts and party allegations.
Case file (court sources)
| Field | Entry | Source posture |
|---|---|---|
| Court | U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. (Oakland) | Court record |
| Case number | 4:24-cv-04722-YGR | Court record |
| Date filed | August 5, 2024 | Court docket |
| Judge | Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers | Court record |
| Case type / basis | Civil / federal question | Court record |
| Nature of suit | Racketeer/Corrupt Organization (civil RICO coding) | Court docket — pleaded theory, not a finding |
| Last filing date shown on N.D. Cal. public case page | January 24, 2026 (as of 2026-07-12 check) | Court website — may lag PACER |
| Primary dockets | PACER + CourtListener + N.D. Cal. case page | Prefer primary over news |
Court summary of the complaint (allegations)
The court’s public case summary states that Musk’s complaint alleges Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI-related entities fraudulently induced him to help found and fund OpenAI as a nonprofit devoted to safe AI and broad sharing, then shifted to a profit-driven structure that allegedly locked down valuable technology and concentrated benefits with Microsoft and affiliated for-profit entities, enabling self-dealing and unjust enrichment.
These are allegations, not findings of liability.
What OpenAI says
OpenAI’s March 5, 2024 post gives OpenAI’s account of the relationship and states intent to dismiss Musk’s claims. Treat as party narrative.
Status discipline
| Statement | Label |
|---|---|
| Federal case filed Aug 5, 2024 in N.D. Cal. | Verified (court) |
| Nature of suit coded RICO on docket | Verified (docket coding) |
| Musk “fraudulently induced” / racketeering enterprise | Alleged (complaint) |
| Who prevails / is liable | Undetermined until final judgment |
| Any specific trial exhibit or mid-2026 procedural order | Cite the exact docket entry date + URL before elevating |
Ops note (2026-07-12): Earlier Muskularity notes referenced mid-2026 trial exhibit filings via CourtListener. The N.D. Cal. public case page currently surfaces a last filing date of Jan 24, 2026 and may not list all PACER activity. Reconcile against CourtListener/PACER before asserting trial-phase outcomes.
Why it matters
Legal stress-test of whether a founding nonprofit mission survives frontier-AI economics — the same forces as compute/Colossus, “open” language, Microsoft partnership, and Musk’s xAI/Grok bet.
Receipts
Editorial rule
“alleges” for complaint claims · “argues/responds” for party filings · “the court held” only for orders · “jury found” only on verdict in record · docket dates visible.