The trial pitting Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI began in dramatic fashion on Tuesday with opening arguments and the richest man in the world taking the stand to testify. Attorneys for the two tech moguls presented a California jury with two wildly different versions of the AI company’s history, while Musk accused his billionaire rival of endangering humanity through corporate deception.
Musk’s suit argues that Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, broke a foundational agreement to better humanity when the non-profit pivoted towards a for-profit structure. In his opening statement, Musk’s attorney said Altman and Brockman “stole a charity”. Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 after co-founding it with Altman and Brockman three years earlier, also alleges that his co-founders unjustly enriched themselves as the company raised billions of dollars and grew into the AI behemoth it is today.
OpenAI rejects all of Musk’s claims, stating his case is “motivated by jealousy” and characterizing him as an embittered co-founder seeking revenge after failing to take total control. OpenAI and its lawyers have also pointed out that Musk started his own rival AI company, xAI, casting his lawsuit as a vengeful attack by a competitor. The attorneys also claimed that Musk was well aware of his co-founders’ plans for the business.
Following the opening statements from OpenAI and Musk’s lead counsels – as well as from Microsoft, which is named in the suit as OpenAI’s primary business partner – Musk’s lawyer called his client to testify.
After Musk was sworn in, his lead attorney, Steven Molo, started his questioning by asking the billionaire why he brought this lawsuit. “They’re gonna make this lawsuit very complicated, but it’s actually quite simple,” Musk said. “Which is, it’s not OK to steal a charity. That’s my view.”
As he testified, Musk spoke directly to both the jury and his lawyer. Molo had Musk detail his career, starting from growing up in South Africa to founding SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink and the Boring Company. Musk said he typically works 80 to 100 hours a week and that he doesn’t own vacation homes or yachts.
Molo asked Musk to describe AI. He said it’s software that gets “smarter and smarter” and that artificial general intelligence is technology that can become as smart as any human. “I think we are getting close to that point,” Musk said. “As soon as next year”.
When asked about his concerns around AI, Musk gave a well-known backstory about spending time with Larry Page, the co-founder of Google. Musk said he asked Page, “What if AI wipes out all humans?” and Page responded: “That’ll be fine as long as artificial intelligence survives.”
Musk said he thought it was critical to have a counterpoint to Page and Google’s work on AI. He said he was very vocal about this among Silicon Valley circles and publicly. Musk said that after this Altman approached him about starting a venture to make safe AI to counter Page.
Musk testified he played a direct role in getting OpenAI off the ground. He said he drafted the initial press release announcing the formation of OpenAI and was instrumental in recruiting the world’s top AI engineers to join the company. Musk also said he connected OpenAI to the most influential people in the tech world, including Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and Jensen Huang, the Nvidia co-founder.
From the beginning, Musk said, he was not against a for-profit branch of OpenAI acting as a “small adjunct” to the non-profit. “I was not opposed to there being sort of a small for-profit to provide funding to the non-profit,” Musk testified, “as long as it was not the tail wagging the dog”.
Musk’s testimony is set to continue on Wednesday, along with cross-examination from OpenAI’s attorneys.
William Savitt, the lead attorney representing Altman and Brockman, had started his opening statement by flipping Musk’s narrative about the founding of OpenAI on its head. “Mr. Musk comes to this court saying promises were made to him … that’s not why we’re here,” Savitt said. “We’re here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI.”
Musk believed OpenAI should be a for-profit company since its early days, Savitt claimed. He said evidence will show that Musk promised $1bn in investments in OpenAI and came nowhere near reaching that pledge because he didn’t get “full control” of the company.
“Musk never cared about whether OpenAI was a non-profit … what he cared about was Elon Musk being on top,” Savitt said. “Since he couldn’t control OpenAI, he left it, he left it for dead.”
Savitt alleged that when Altman and Brockman succeeded after they “stuck it out” and developed ChatGPT, Musk became furious. The attorney additionally claimed that Musk “didn’t really understand artificial intelligence very well”.
“Because he’s a competitor”, Savitt said. “Mr Musk will do anything to attack OpenAI.”
Microsoft’s counsel, Howard Ullman, meanwhile said in opening statements that the company has solely supported OpenAI in its work and that Musk’s claim that it aided and abetted OpenAI in a breach of charitable trust is completely false. “Microsoft has been a responsible partner every step of the way,” Ullman said.
The trial is a culmination of a years-long feud between Musk and Altman that has become increasingly vicious. As the trial started jury selection on Monday, Musk posted a stream of insults against Altman on X, the social media platform Musk owns, including repeatedly calling him “Scam Altman”. Musk also used his power over the platform to boost a post to followers that featured the New Yorker magazine’s unflattering investigation of Altman from earlier this month.
The outcome of the case carries potentially enormous stakes for OpenAI, which is seeking to go public later this year at a valuation of about $1tn. Musk is seeking to undo its corporate restructuring and force the removal of Altman as CEO and Brockman as president. He is also seeking about $134bn in damages, which he wants redistributed to OpenAI’s non-profit, which still oversees the company.
On Monday, nine jurors were seated after a day-long selection process that included a questionnaire about their feelings towards AI and Musk. Many prospective jurors stated they had negative feelings about the Tesla CEO and thoughts about AI, while Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers assured the court that the case would not focus on technical details.
“This is just a case about promises and breaches of promises, it won’t get technical at all,” Gonzalez Rogers said.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, long lines snaked outside the Oakland federal courthouse as reporters, legal teams and court watchers waited to get inside. Musk and Altman passed through security around 15 minutes apart before the trial began.
The trial is expected to last about three weeks. Other tech industry bigwigs who may testify include Nadella and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, who is also the mother of four of Musk’s children.
