Elon Musk's Lawsuit Against OpenAI Goes to Trial
- From idealism to lawsuit: how we got here
- Musk files suit — and trims it back
- The courtroom opens: Altman appears, jurors vent
- Musk’s pre‑trial PR blitz: ‘Scam Altman’ and boosted exposés
- OpenAI’s counter: jealousy, competition, and a diary entry
- The trial proper: mission, money, and Musk’s own contradictions
- Old friendships and bigger fears
- The players behind the glass
- Public opinion: hero, villain, or something messier?
- What’s really on trial
Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI Goes to Trial Human Human outlets portray Musk’s suit as a high-stakes, personality-driven showdown in Oakland that mixes legal questions about OpenAI’s nonprofit origins with deep personal rifts and business rivalry between Musk, Altman, and other tech elites. They stress how testimony, juror reactions, and internal documents could not only reshape OpenAI’s leadership and structure but also answer broader questions about whether powerful AI leaders can be trusted. @TC @7dlt…clgf @Arstechnica @Verge @AI magazine @TNW The future of the world’s most powerful AI company is being argued not in a lab, but under fluorescent lights in a federal courtroom in Oakland. What began as a utopian nonprofit to “benefit humanity” has devolved into a $100‑plus‑billion grudge match over money, mission, and whether anyone should trust the men steering artificial intelligence.
From idealism to lawsuit: how we got here
In 2015, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others launched OpenAI as a non‑profit research lab, publicly vowing to advance “digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”1 Musk put in roughly $38 million and his personal brand as tech’s resident doomer‑optimist.
By Musk’s telling, that promise was the deal. He says he agreed to bankroll OpenAI precisely because it wouldn’t be another profit‑maximizing Big Tech machine, and that he walked away in 2018 as the lab began eyeing closed models and big‑ticket funding.1
OpenAI’s leadership insists that story is selective. As the compute bills exploded, they argued, the lab needed “billions of dollars” to stay relevant against Google and others, and Musk himself pushed versions of a for‑profit pivot and even discussed folding OpenAI into Tesla under his control.2 When those demands went nowhere, he stopped funding, left the board, and eventually set up his own rival outfit, xAI.3
The structural compromise came in stages: a capped‑profit subsidiary in 2019, and by 2025 a public‑benefit corporation preparing for an IPO at a valuation approaching $1 trillion.1 That evolution is now the crux of Musk’s lawsuit.
Musk files suit — and trims it back
Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, Brockman and Microsoft in 2024, accusing them of breaching a charitable trust, abandoning OpenAI’s founding mission, and misleading him into funding what became a quasi‑Microsoft satellite driven by profit.3 Depending on the filing you read, he’s seeking between roughly $134 billion and $150 billion in damages — money he now says should go back to OpenAI’s nonprofit arm, not into his own pocket.13
Originally, Musk also alleged outright fraud. But days before trial, he abruptly dropped those fraud claims. The federal judge signed off, and Musk’s team framed the move as an effort to “streamline the case” and focus on whether OpenAI is actually honoring its public charitable mission.4 Two core claims — centered on charitable trust and mission drift — are what made it into the courtroom.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, citing the public stakes, fast‑tracked those core questions into a four‑week trial, with an advisory jury but the final decision in her hands.2
The courtroom opens: Altman appears, jurors vent
Jury selection began April 27 in Oakland. The Verge’s trial dispatch was blunt: “The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today,” with Sam Altman physically in the room and Musk conspicuously absent at first.5
Business Insider captured the mood as potential jurors aired their feelings not just about AI, but about the billionaire at the center of the case. One prospective juror said flatly, “Elon doesn’t care about people, just like our president,” adding that he thought Musk only cared about money.6 Another admitted calling Musk a “jerk” on his questionnaire, but pledged to try to set that aside.6
Judge Gonzalez Rogers pushed back when Musk’s lawyers tried to strike jurors simply for disliking their client. “The reality is that people don’t like him,” she said. “Many people don’t like him. But that doesn’t mean that Americans nevertheless can’t have integrity for the judicial process.”3
Outside, reporters described “Happenings” — a circus atmosphere befitting a case Bloomberg and Wired had already billed as a “showdown” and a “battle for OpenAI’s soul.”7
Musk’s pre‑trial PR blitz: ‘Scam Altman’ and boosted exposés
If Musk wasn’t in the courtroom on day one, he was fully present on X, the site he owns. In the hours around jury selection, he fired off attacks branding the OpenAI CEO “Scam Altman …” in a terse post to his 100‑million‑plus followers.8
He amplified a thread accusing Altman of having “an incredible track record for being a con artist” with a “former ally turned enemy” list few could match, simply replying “Long list.”9 He also signal‑boosted a tweet that argued: “OpenAi bait‑and‑switched Elon, pretending to a non‑profit mission to save humanity until it pocketed his donations. Elon should win.”10
Perhaps most tellingly, he used his platform tools to elevate Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker investigation, “Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?” The piece resurfaced on users’ feeds marked, “This organic post was boosted by @elonmusk,” just as the trial kicked off.11
Musk’s message discipline is clear: this case isn’t about bruised feelings, it’s about whether Altman is fundamentally trustworthy. Business Insider summarized the core framing: “Can Sam Altman be trusted? Elon Musk wants a jury to answer Big Tech’s hottest question.”7
OpenAI’s counter: jealousy, competition, and a diary entry
OpenAI has returned fire in filings and in the press, portraying the lawsuit as a competitive tantrum. In one succinct formulation, the company called the case “a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor,” arguing Musk is trying to kneecap OpenAI to boost his own xAI and other ventures.3
They say Musk knew all along that some kind of for‑profit structure was coming, participated in discussions about it, and even pushed proposals that would have put him in majority control — including merging OpenAI into Tesla.212
One document looms particularly large: a 2017 diary entry from OpenAI president Greg Brockman, unearthed in discovery. Reflecting on Musk’s influence, Brockman allegedly wrote, “This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon. Is he the ‘glorious leader’ that I would pick?”2 Depending on which side you believe, that line either proves a conspiracy to edge Musk out, or a desperate attempt to escape a domineering founder.
The trial proper: mission, money, and Musk’s own contradictions
When opening statements wrapped, Musk eventually took the stand. TechCrunch reported that he framed the entire dispute as Altman and his cofounders having “stole a charity.”12
Under cross‑examination by OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt, though, Musk had a rougher ride. He conceded that Tesla is not currently pursuing artificial general intelligence, despite having tweeted the opposite just weeks earlier — an awkward contrast for a self‑styled apostle of “truthmaxxing.”12
Savitt also walked Musk through emails and discussions showing he’d supported efforts as early as 2016 to give OpenAI a for‑profit arm and even explored a structure in which he would hold majority equity and control.12 Musk’s answer is that there’s a world of difference between a capped‑profit model — where investors’ returns are limited — and the effectively uncapped upside Microsoft and others now enjoy after restrictions were loosened over the years.12
That shift, Musk says, is what finally pushed him to sue.
Old friendships and bigger fears
On another day of testimony, Musk rewound the clock even further, to his falling‑out with Google cofounder Larry Page. Under oath, he recounted warning Page that advanced AI could wipe out humanity, only for Page to shrug off human extinction as “fine,” so long as machine intelligence survived, and to dismiss Musk as a “speciest” for favoring humans.13
Musk testified that Page’s attitude was “insane” and that the fracture helped motivate him to co‑found OpenAI as a counterweight to Big Tech AI labs he thought were too cavalier about risk.13 It’s a story he has told before — to biographer Walter Isaacson and podcaster Lex Fridman — but this was the first time he laid it out under penalty of perjury.13
The anecdote matters because it underscores how both sides want this trial to be read: not just as a billionaire divorce, but as a referendum on AI safety and power. Ars Technica noted that the outcome “could radically change the AI landscape,” either stripping OpenAI of its for‑profit arm and top leadership or cementing a profit‑driven model that critics say risks going the way of Google’s abandoned “Don’t be evil” ethos.3
The players behind the glass
The witness list reads like a who’s who of twenty‑first‑century tech. Business Insider tallied expected appearances from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman, former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, CTO Mira Murati, and longtime Musk confidante Shivon Zilis, among others.14
Musk himself is slated for at least six hours of testimony. Altman, 41, will have to explain not only OpenAI’s complex hybrid structure but also his own calls over the years about how “misaligned incentives” in for‑profit AI could be “suboptimal to the world as a whole.”1
Public opinion: hero, villain, or something messier?
Outside the legal filings, both camps are waging an information war.
Musk boosts posts describing his influence as “monumental to OpenAI,” with one viral tweet insisting “there simply wouldn’t have been the AI world we have today” without him.15 Another Musk‑retweeted screed urges people to “do your own research,” noting that he doesn’t blow his wealth on yachts or islands and promising that “even the money from this lawsuit, if he wins,” would go back into the cause rather than personal toys.16
Altman, for his part, has mostly stayed off the public soapbox during trial. But OpenAI’s line — that this is a “baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor” — captures how many in Silicon Valley see the case: as high‑stakes corporate warfare dressed in the robes of altruism.3
What’s really on trial
Legally, the judge must decide whether OpenAI’s leaders violated a charitable trust and strayed so far from the 2015 promise that they should be forced to unwind an $850‑billion‑plus juggernaut.6 Practically, everyone else is watching a different question: in a world where AI systems may one day wield more power than most governments, can we trust any individual — Musk, Altman, or their future rivals — to run them?
Business Insider distilled the stakes succinctly: this case “gets to the heart of one of the biggest questions in our era of Big Tech: Can flawed human beings be trusted to run unimaginably powerful companies?”7
Over the next weeks in Oakland, nine jurors and one federal judge will give their first answer. The rest of us, for better or worse, will have to live with it.
1. Why is Elon Musk taking OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Court? — Musk invested about US$38m in OpenAI under a founding mission that promised AI research “unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”
2. Musk v. Altman goes to trial in Oakland — OpenAI argues Musk pushed for a for‑profit structure and even a Tesla merger before leaving to start his own lab.
3. Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Court Battle Over the Future of OpenAI — OpenAI calls the suit “a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor,” while Musk seeks up to $150 billion and leadership changes.
4. Elon Musk drops fraud claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman before trial. — Musk withdrew his fraud allegations, saying it would “streamline the case” and focus on OpenAI’s charitable mission.
5. The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today. — Jury selection began in Oakland with Sam Altman present in court and no initial sign of Musk.
6. Sam Altman makes surprise courtroom appearance as potential jurors slam AI, Elon Musk — Prospective jurors called Musk a “jerk” and said he “doesn’t care about people,” while Altman watched from the gallery.
7. Can Sam Altman be trusted? Elon Musk wants a jury to answer Big Tech’s hottest question. — Coverage frames the trial as a “showdown” and “battle for OpenAI’s soul,” asking whether Altman can be trusted.
8. Musk and Altman face off in trial that will determine OpenAI’s future — Ars Technica warns the verdict could “radically change the AI landscape,” reshaping OpenAI’s structure and mission.
9. On the stand, Elon Musk can’t escape his own tweets — Musk testified that Tesla is not pursuing AGI, contradicting a recent tweet, as lawyers pressed him on past support for for‑profit models.
10. At his OpenAI trial, Musk relitigates an old friendship — Musk recounted a rift with Larry Page over whether AI wiping out humanity would be “fine” if machine intelligence survived.
11. Elon Musk really wants to make sure you’ve read Ronan Farrow’s Sam Altman investigation — A Ronan Farrow profile of Altman re‑appeared on X feeds labeled, “This organic post was boosted by @elonmusk.”
12. Elon Musk’s case against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is going to court — The dispute centers on OpenAI’s 2015 non‑profit mission and its later restructuring into a Public Benefit Corporation ahead of a planned IPO.
13. At his OpenAI trial, Musk relitigates an old friendship — Musk testified that Larry Page branded him a “speciest” for being “pro human,” a key moment that he says pushed him to found OpenAI.
14. Meet the players in the Musk-Altman fight, from OpenAI insiders to Silicon Valley visionaries — The witness list includes Satya Nadella, Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Mira Murati, Shivon Zilis, and other tech heavyweights.
15. @elonmusk on X — “Scam Altman …”
16. @elonmusk on X — “Long list” (replying to a thread calling Altman a con artist with many former allies turned enemies).
17. @elonmusk on X — Retweet: “OpenAi bait-and-switched Elon, pretending to a non-profit mission to save humanity until it pocketed his donations. Elon should win.”
18. @elonmusk on X — Retweet praising Musk: “Elon’s influence was monumental to OpenAI… there simply wouldn’t have been the AI world we have today.”
19. @elonmusk on X — Retweet arguing this isn’t a “billionaire feud” and that, even if he wins, Musk wouldn’t use the lawsuit money for yachts or islands.
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