Elon Musk takes stand in trial against OpenAI, accuses Sam Altman of stealing charity

Day 1 of the Elon Musk vs Sam Altman trial focuses on OpenAI's founding, nonprofit claims, and disputes over its shift to a for-profit structure.

In Short

• Musk claims OpenAI abandoned nonprofit mission and founding promises
• OpenAI denies allegations, says Musk knew plans and delayed lawsuit
• Court urges both sides to avoid social media escalation

The highly anticipated trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has concluded its first day of testimony, which was largely dedicated to Musk’s version of OpenAI’s founding tale. In his civil lawsuit, Musk has alleged OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the company's co-founder Greg Brockman abandoned OpenAI's founding promises to keep the artificial intelligence lab a nonprofit. The trial could result in changes in OpenAI’s structure, funding, and partnerships, including its ties with Microsoft. The trial began on Monday (US time) with jury selection. On Tuesday, Elon Musk took the stand as the first witness.

Coming to the beginning of OpenAI, Elon Musk’s lawyer told the court that Musk has worried about machines becoming smarter than humans since his college days. He tried pushing governments to regulate advanced AI but felt no real action was taken.

Around that time, Musk connected with Sam Altman, and the two decided to launch OpenAI as a nonprofit. They were concerned about Google’s rapid AI progress and wanted to build a safer alternative.

“My perspective is [OpenAI] exists because Larry Page called me a speciesist for being pro-humanity,” Musk said, referring to the Google cofounder. Musk said OpenAI was meant to be “the opposite of Google” — an open-source nonprofit.

Musk’s attorney told the court that as OpenAI grew, Musk and Altman agreed to create a limited for-profit arm to raise the huge funds needed for development. Musk said he was okay with this as long as the nonprofit remained in control.

“I was not opposed to there being a small for-profit as long as the tail didn’t wag the dog,” Musk said on the stand.

However, he later felt things went too far after Microsoft invested $10 billion in 2023, with more resources and talent shifting to the for-profit side. His lawyer compared it to a museum selling off its valuable art and locking it away from the public.

“The museum store sold the Picassos so they were locked up where no one could see them,” Molo said.

OpenAI pushes back

OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt told the jury that the company never promised Elon Musk it would stay a nonprofit or make all its code public. He argued that Musk’s claims are not backed by evidence.

Savitt said Musk was aware as early as 2018 that OpenAI planned to raise more than $10 billion in corporate funding, and had even raised concerns about Microsoft’s involvement in a 2020 tweet. Despite this, Musk only filed a lawsuit after launching his own AI company, xAI, in 2023.

“It’s too late to gin up something to harm a competitor,” Savitt said.

He also argued that Musk’s claims should be dismissed because the deadline to pursue them expired in 2021, when Musk already knew about these issues.

According to OpenAI’s side, Musk himself did not fulfill his commitments. He had promised to invest up to $1 billion but contributed only about $38 million over five years. The company also claimed that Musk wanted control of OpenAI through himself or Tesla, which it refused.

Savitt said Musk left after the company declined to become part of his broader business empire, while Musk maintained he only sought temporary control to guide its direction.

“When OpenAI refused to be absorbed into Musk’s empire, he just picked up his marbles and left,” Savitt said.

Social media tensions spill into court

OpenAI also questioned Musk’s post on X where he called Sam Altman “Scam Altman.” An OpenAI lawyer told the judge that Elon Musk had posted and amplified a “barrage of tweets” that were “inflammatory” and promoted a critical article about Sam Altman.

When asked about it, Musk said he was responding to earlier posts from OpenAI. The judge then urged both sides to stop escalating matters online.

Musk and Altman agreed to stay off social media during the trial, with the judge asking everyone to avoid making the situation worse outside the courtroom.

- Ends