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Elon Musk testifies in OpenAI trial, attacks Sam Altman over charity claim

techApr 30, 202615469

Elon Musk testified Wednesday in the Musk v. Altman trial that he was 'a fool' to provide initial funding to OpenAI and accused Sam Altman of having 'stolen a charity.' OpenAI lawyers pressed Musk about 2017 emails that show he sought majority control, withheld promised funding, and tried to recruit researchers, and they questioned why he reduced his financial commitments. Musk said he believed OpenAI would remain a nonprofit and argued the company’s later change to a capped-profit structure violated his expectations. The case matters because it will decide whether founders' promises and early funding obligations can legally shape WHO controls powerful AI development.

Michelle Kim
@michelletomkim.bsky.social

I'm a reporter (and lawyer) covering Musk v. Altman for @technologyreview.com . Here's what's going on day 2 of the trial at the Oakland federal courthouse. Elon Musk and Sam Altman are here. Musk will likely testify today. Opening statements from both parties' lawyers to come soon.

162d ago
Michelle Kim9

OpenAI's lawyer pulls up a photo of the founding members of OpenAI during the company's early days, wearing T-shirts and jeans in a scrappy office and “working day and night," he says. Musk, who was at Y Combinator, came by occasionally to “yell at people for not moving fast enough,” he says.

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“The current structure provides you with a path where you end up with unilateral absolute control over AGI,” wrote Brockman and Sutskever to Musk. OpenAI's lawyer says Musk left OpenAi only because he didn't get his way in the power feud.

Michelle Kim4

Elon Musk takes the stand in a crisp black suit with a black tie. “It’s not okay to steal a charity,” he says. If OpenAI is not found guilty, if this case becomes precedent, “the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed,” he says.

Michelle Kim4

OpenAI's lawyer says the time for Musk to sue OpenAI has passed (that the statute of limitations bars his claim). He says Musk knew the details of OpenAI’s restructuring and deals with Microsoft in real time, during the company's early days. OpenAI was founded in 2015, and Musk left in 2018.

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OpenAI's lawyer tells "a tale of two Elons": one Elon who knew OpenAI supported a for-profit arm so long as he remained in control and understood the the technology couldn't be kept open-source; another Elon who now says the opposite.

Michelle Kim3

“Mr. Musk comes to this court claiming that promises were made to him… and broken," says OpenAI's lawyer in opening statement. But that's not why we're here, he says. "We’re here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI," he says. And because he runs xAI, a rival company.

Michelle Kim3

“Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit,” Elon Musk told Sam Altman and Greg Brockman in the company's early days. Musk's lawyer says Altman and Brockman reassured him that they were comitted to keeping OpenAI a nonprofit.

Michelle Kim2

Elon Musk describes SpaceX, which recently acquired his AI company xAI, which he founded in 2023, after years after leaving OpenAI in 2018. “The goal of SpaceX is to make life multiplanetary, so to extend life beyond Earth," he says. “It’s life insurance for life as we know it”

Michelle Kim2

OpenAI had to raise enough capital to buy compute and hire the best researchers, OpenAI’s lawyer says. Restructuring to operate a for-profit subsidiary “gave the company the ability to attract investment,” he says. Still, the “nonprofit remained in control of the for-profit," he says.

Michelle Kim2

“No one should be allowed to steal a charity,” says Musk's lawyer. Musk brings two claims against OpenAI (breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment) and one claim against Microsoft (aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty).

Michelle Kim2

Screen showing OpenAI's corporate structure goes off as Musk's lawyer says the new entity was for-profit operating for the good of Altman and Brockman. “we are funded by the federal government”

Michelle Kim2

Elon Musk's attorney introduces Musk to the jury and asks them to put their opinions and feelings about him aside and decide the case on the law. Some prospective jurors yesterday confessed that they had negative views of Musk due to his political ideology.

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