Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stakes trial concerning the future of OpenAI, alleging that its co-founder and Chief Executive, Sam Altman, along with President Greg Brockman, betrayed him and the public.
According to Musk, the duo abandoned OpenAI’s original mission of being a benevolent steward of AI for humanity and transformed the nonprofit into a profit-seeking enterprise, as reported by Reuters. The world’s richest person, who founded automaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, characterised OpenAI as his brainchild and is suing OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman.
“If we make it OK to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed,” Musk testified on the first day of the trial. “That’s my concern.”
“I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything I know, and provided all of the initial funding,” Musk stated. “It was specifically meant to be a charity that does not benefit any individual. I could have started it as a for-profit entity, but I specifically chose not to.”
Before Musk began testifying, William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI and Altman, told jurors during his opening statement that it was Musk who saw dollar signs as he helped finance OpenAI’s early growth and pushed for it to become a for-profit business, one he might eventually lead as CEO. Savitt claimed Musk wanted “the keys to the kingdom” and only filed suit after he failed to achieve his ambitions. In 2023, Musk launched his own AI business, xAI, which is now part of SpaceX. “What he cares about is Elon Musk being on top,” Savitt said in his opening statement. “We are here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way.”
OpenAI’s lawyer framed the creation of a for-profit entity in March 2019 as critical for allowing the organisation to buy computing power and pay top scientists, enabling it to remain competitive with Google’s DeepMind AI lab.
Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, told jurors that it was the OpenAI defendants who were greedy for money, noting that OpenAI began attracting investors, including Microsoft, which invested $10 billion in January 2023. “It wasn’t a vehicle for people to get rich,” Molo stated.
Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with the proceeds intended for OpenAI’s charitable arm. He also wants OpenAI to revert to its nonprofit status, with Altman and Brockman removed as officers and Altman removed from its board. Musk’s claims include breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.
While Musk described OpenAI as a charity, the organisation referred to itself as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company in a 2015 post titled “Introducing OpenAI.”
Before jurors were seated, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers admonished Musk after OpenAI lawyers complained about his posts on X, in which he labelled Altman as “Scam Altman” and accused him of stealing from a charity. Rogers expressed her reluctance to issue a gag order but urged Musk to “try to control your propensity to use social media to make things work outside the courtroom … Perhaps you’ve never done that before.” Musk agreed to minimise his social media activity, and Altman similarly complied. Altman and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella are also expected to testify.
The trial offers a glimpse into the egos and personalities that shaped OpenAI as it evolved from a nonprofit research lab to a company now valued at over $850 billion. However, it risks complicating OpenAI’s plans for a potential initial public offering by casting doubt on its leadership and could intensify Americans’ fears about AI technology more broadly.
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with the goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google. Musk testified, “I’ve had extreme concerns about AI for a very long time,” and focused more intently on it after meetings with former U.S. President Barack Obama and Google did not address AI’s risks. “I was very close friends with Larry Page at Google,” Musk testified, referring to Google’s co-founder. “We would talk for many hours about AI safety. At a certain point, it was clear to me that Larry Page was not sufficiently caring about AI … We had to have a counterpoint against Google.”
Savitt, in his opening statement, asserted that AI safety was not a priority for Musk and that he denigrated OpenAI employees who focused on it. “Jackasses is what he called them,” Savitt stated.
Musk has claimed to have provided about $38 million to OpenAI for its original mission, and testified that he leveraged his connections to provide computing capacity, personally approaching Nadella and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. OpenAI created its for-profit entity 13 months after Musk left its board.
Russell Cohen, a lawyer for Microsoft, stated in his opening that the company had done nothing wrong and had been “a responsible partner every step of the way.” OpenAI also faces growing competition from rivals, including Anthropic, and is spending billions on computational resources. A potential IPO could value the company at $1 trillion, according to Reuters.
Late last year, OpenAI revised its structure to become a public benefit corporation, with the nonprofit and other investors, including Microsoft, holding stakes. The nonprofit retains a 26% stake, along with warrants if OpenAI meets certain valuation targets.
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