Why Elon Lost The Fight With Sam

Arnab Ray
May 19, 2026 | 21:15 IST

Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman was always a personal, petulant battle, about their ambitions to command the future of humanity. For Tesla boss, this means the loss is acutely painful


On Monday, a federal jury in Oakland, California took less than two hours to find against Elon Musk, in his lawsuit against OpenAI, its leadership (Sam Altman, Greg Brockman), and its biggest investor (Microsoft). But what was billed as an epic battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader (we may argue whether Altman is Vader or Musk) turned out to be a damp squib. As if the epic battle between Luke and Vader never happened – because they forgot to charge their lightsabers!
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