OAKLAND, California: OpenAI has emerged victorious in its closely watched courtroom battle with Elon Musk, preserving its path toward what could be one of the largest initial public offerings in history, but the trial also exposed sharp questions about the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and the concentration of power in the artificial intelligence industry.

The company behind ChatGPT, now valued at about US$852 billion, defeated Musk's attempt to remove Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman from their leadership roles.

Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI and the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla and SpaceX, accused Altman and Brockman of abandoning OpenAI's original nonprofit mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

OpenAI argued that Musk filed his lawsuit too late and was trying to weaken the company to benefit his own artificial intelligence venture, xAI.

On May 19, a nine-member federal jury in Oakland, California, agreed with OpenAI, finding that Musk had missed the legal deadline to bring his claims. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours after a three-week trial.

Musk said he plans to appeal and sharply criticized U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. "She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!" Musk wrote on his social media platform X.

The case unfolded against a backdrop of growing public concern about artificial intelligence and its potential impact on jobs, mental health, and even humanity itself.

Sarah Kreps, Director of Cornell University's Tech Policy Institute, said the trial was "a reminder of how much the future of AI still depends on a remarkably small group of powerful tech figures and their personal rivalries."

"The trial highlighted not just a dispute between Musk and Altman, but a broader disconnect between the people building these systems and many of the people increasingly expected to live and work alongside them," Kreps added.

The proceedings revealed internal tensions at OpenAI, including testimony from former board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, who said concerns about Altman's honesty contributed to his brief removal as chief executive in 2023.

Dorothy Lund, a professor at Columbia Law School, said, "This is a funny microcosm of this moment where we have this hugely important technology that's being developed by for-profit corporations run by people like Musk and Altman and not as the part of some government-led initiative."

Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said, "It's a lot of dirty laundry that doesn't look very appealing." "But you know, AI is likely to come forward and continue even if it isn't OpenAI," Tobias added.

While OpenAI avoided a potentially costly court defeat, the trial laid bare the personal rivalries and governance struggles shaping one of the world's most influential technologies.