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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Nick Robins-Early

Sam Altman defends OpenAI in courtroom showdown with Elon Musk

A courtroom sketch shows Sam Altman with his back to the viewer facing his attorney and a judge.
Sam Altman is questioned by OpenAI's attorney, Bill Savitt, before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, in a courtroom sketch. Photograph: Vicki Behringer/Reuters

The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, took the stand on Tuesday to defend himself and his company against a lawsuit by Elon Musk. Altman is set to be one of the final witnesses in the trial, which has pitted two of the tech industry’s most powerful men against each other in a dramatic courtroom showdown.

Musk has accused Altman and OpenAI of breaking the AI firm’s founding agreement by restructuring it into a for-profit enterprise, alleging that Altman essentially swindled him into co-founding the company and providing tens of millions in financial backing. Musk also claims Altman unjustly enriched himself in the process and is seeking the CEO’s removal from OpenAI, the redistribution of $134bn to the firm’s non-profit and the undoing of its for-profit conversion.

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