{"id":635981,"date":"2026-04-29T08:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635981\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:13:14","slug":"stole-a-charity-elon-musk-accuses-sam-altman-of-betrayal-in-courtroom-showdown-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/635981\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Stole a charity\u2019: Elon Musk accuses Sam Altman of betrayal in courtroom showdown | OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trial pitting Elon Musk<\/a> against Sam Altman<\/a> and OpenAI<\/a> 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<\/a> jury with two wildly different versions of the AI company\u2019s history, while Musk accused his billionaire rival of endangering humanity through corporate deception.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s suit argues that Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, broke a foundational agreement<\/a> to better humanity when the non-profit pivoted towards a for-profit structure. In his opening statement, Musk\u2019s attorney said Altman and Brockman \u201cstole a charity\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n

OpenAI rejects all of Musk\u2019s claims, stating his case is \u201cmotivated by jealousy\u201d and characterizing him as an embittered co-founder seeking revenge after failing to take total control. OpenAI<\/a> 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\u2019 plans for the business.<\/p>\n

Following the opening statements from OpenAI<\/a> and Musk\u2019s lead counsels \u2013 as well as from Microsoft, which is named in the suit as OpenAI\u2019s primary business partner \u2013 Musk\u2019s lawyer called his client to testify.<\/p>\n

After Musk was sworn in, his lead attorney, Steven Molo, started his questioning by asking the billionaire why he brought this lawsuit. \u201cThey\u2019re gonna make this lawsuit very complicated, but it\u2019s actually quite simple,\u201d Musk said. \u201cWhich is, it\u2019s not OK to steal a charity. That\u2019s my view.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t own vacation homes or yachts.<\/p>\n

Molo asked Musk to describe AI. He said it\u2019s software that gets \u201csmarter and smarter\u201d and that artificial general intelligence is technology that can become as smart as any human. \u201cI think we are getting close to that point,\u201d Musk said. \u201cAs soon as next year\u201d.<\/p>\n

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, \u201cWhat if AI wipes out all humans?\u201d and Page responded: \u201cThat\u2019ll be fine as long as artificial intelligence survives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musk said he thought it was critical to have a counterpoint to Page and Google\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s top AI engineers to join the company. Musk also said he connected OpenAI to the most influential people in the tech world, including Microsoft\u2019s CEO, Satya Nadella, and Jensen Huang, the Nvidia co-founder.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, Musk said, he was not against a for-profit branch of OpenAI acting as a \u201csmall adjunct\u201d to the non-profit. \u201cI was not opposed to there being sort of a small for-profit to provide funding to the non-profit,\u201d Musk testified, \u201cas long as it was not the tail wagging the dog\u201d.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s testimony is set to continue on Wednesday, along with cross-examination from OpenAI\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n

William Savitt, the lead attorney representing Altman and Brockman, had started his opening statement by flipping Musk\u2019s narrative about the founding of OpenAI on its head. \u201cMr. Musk comes to this court saying promises were made to him \u2026 that\u2019s not why we\u2019re here,\u201d Savitt said. \u201cWe\u2019re here because Mr. Musk didn\u2019t get his way at OpenAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019t get \u201cfull control\u201d of the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusk never cared about whether OpenAI was a non-profit \u2026 what he cared about was Elon Musk<\/a> being on top,\u201d Savitt said. \u201cSince he couldn\u2019t control OpenAI, he left it, he left it for dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savitt alleged that when Altman and Brockman succeeded after they \u201cstuck it out\u201d and developed ChatGPT, Musk became furious. The attorney additionally claimed that Musk \u201cdidn\u2019t really understand artificial intelligence very well\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he\u2019s a competitor\u201d, Savitt said. \u201cMr Musk will do anything to attack OpenAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s counsel, Howard Ullman, meanwhile said in opening statements that the company has solely supported OpenAI in its work and that Musk\u2019s claim that it aided and abetted OpenAI in a breach of charitable trust is completely false. \u201cMicrosoft has been a responsible partner every step of the way,\u201d Ullman said.<\/p>\n

The trial is a culmination of a years-long feud<\/a> 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 \u201cScam Altman\u201d. Musk also used his power over the platform to boost a post to followers<\/a> that featured the New Yorker magazine\u2019s unflattering investigation<\/a> of Altman from earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s non-profit, which still oversees the company.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a case about promises and breaches of promises, it won\u2019t get technical at all,\u201d Gonzalez Rogers said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trial pitting Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI began in dramatic fashion on Tuesday with opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-635981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}