{"id":580899,"date":"2026-05-13T02:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/580899\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T02:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T02:12:17","slug":"sam-altman-defends-openai-in-courtroom-showdown-with-elon-musk-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/580899\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Altman defends OpenAI in courtroom showdown with Elon Musk | Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman<\/a>, took the stand on Tuesday to defend himself and his company against a lawsuit by Elon Musk<\/a>. Altman is set to be one of the final witnesses in the trial, which has pitted two of the tech industry\u2019s most powerful men against each other in a dramatic courtroom showdown.<\/p>\n

Musk has accused Altman and OpenAI of breaking the AI<\/a> firm\u2019s founding agreement by restructuring it into a for-profit enterprise, alleging that Altman essentially swindled him<\/a> 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\u2019s removal from OpenAI, the redistribution of $134bn to the firm\u2019s non-profit and the undoing of its for-profit conversion.<\/p>\n

OpenAI and Altman have rejected all of Musk\u2019s claims, arguing that he is motivated by jealousy after a failed bid to take over the AI firm in 2018 and a subsequent departure from its board. They argue that Musk was also always aware of plans to create a for-profit structure and that OpenAI\u2019s non-profit still oversees the for-profit business.<\/p>\n

The most influential man in AI takes the stand<\/p>\n

Altman\u2019s testimony is one of the marquee moments of the three-week long trial, which has featured some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley<\/a>, including Musk and Microsoft\u2019s CEO. The outcome of the case is hugely important for OpenAI<\/a>, which is seeking to go public at around a $1tn valuation later this year. In the bitter feud between Musk and Altman, the reputational stakes are winner-takes-all.<\/p>\n

When Altman took the stand just before 9am local time in the Oakland, California federal courthouse, he began by recapping some of his career in tech before addressing some of Musk\u2019s allegations directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou, as you know, have been accused of stealing a charity,\u201d OpenAI\u2019s lawyer asked Altman. \u201cWhat is your response to that?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels difficult to even wrap my head around that framing,\u201d Altman responded. \u201cWe created the largest or one of the largest charities in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would you say to the suggestion that OpenAI was Mr Musk\u2019s startup?\u201d OpenAI\u2019s lawyer asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would not agree with that characterization at all,\u201d Altman replied.<\/p>\n

Altman claimed in his testimony that in 2017 there were discussions at OpenAI of creating a for-profit structure but that they fell through due to disagreements over its ownership. Musk wanted to be CEO of the organization, Altman said. The CEO also alleged that when Musk was asked what would happen to control of the company in the future if he died, the centibillionaire suggested that it could go to his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Musk felt very strongly that if we were going to form a for-profit, he needed total control over it initially,\u201d Altman said, adding that Musk\u2019s request made him \u201cextremely uncomfortable\u201d.<\/p>\n

Altman\u2019s testimony framed Musk as an erratic, sometimes vindictive leader while at OpenAI. He claimed that Musk had \u201cdemotivated some of our key researchers\u201d through aggressive demands and management techniques such as ranking employees. Altman also claimed that Musk was later offered a chance to invest in OpenAI\u2019s for-profit entity, but that he turned down the opportunity because he refused to invest in companies that he did not control on principle.<\/p>\n

At one point in the final moments of his opening testimony, Altman fit in a dig at Musk\u2019s accusation that the OpenAI CEO had \u201cstolen a charity\u201d .<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole \u2018you can\u2019t steal a charity.\u2019 I agree you can\u2019t steal it. Mr Musk did try to kill it, I guess twice,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n

Sam Altman: \u2018deceptive and a liar\u2019?<\/p>\n

Altman\u2019s character and leadership of OpenAI have been a core focus of the trial, with Musk\u2019s lawyers attempting to portray Altman as deceptive and self-serving. Several former OpenAI executives, notably those who were involved in briefly ousting Altman in 2023, have testified during the proceedings that he was untrustworthy and had a pattern of lying<\/a>. Mira Murati, OpenAI\u2019s former chief technical officer, accused him of \u201ccreating chaos\u201d.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s attorney, Steven Molo, began a combative cross-examination of Altman with a series of questions about whether Altman ever misled former colleagues or investors, asking him if he was a \u201ccompletely trustworthy\u201d person.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve repeatedly been called deceptive and a liar by people with whom you\u2019ve done business, right?\u201d Molo asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have heard people say that,\u201d Altman replied.<\/p>\n

Molo read out a list of statements from former OpenAI executives and other coworkers who have suggested that Altman fed them falsehoods or misrepresented himself. Molo also tried to portray Altman as the one bent on control, rather than Musk.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou had a fixation on this concept of being CEO didn\u2019t you?\u201d Molo asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t agree with that characterization,\u201d Altman replied.<\/p>\n

Molo pressed Altman during the cross-examination on his connections to other companies, suggesting potential conflicts of interest, and questioned his dual role on the board of OpenAI\u2019s non-profit and as its CEO. At one point, Molo asked Altman if he would ever fire himself.<\/p>\n

Altman largely responded to Molo\u2019s aggressive questioning with short, yes-or-no responses and occasional claims that he did not recall exact details related to the case or disputed the characterization of events. The cross examination was punctuated with frequent objections from OpenAI\u2019s attorney, especially as Molo brought up accusations of Altman being dishonest.<\/p>\n

The trial is the culmination of several tumultuous weeks for Altman, who in recent weeks was the target of a molotov cocktail attack<\/a> at his San Francisco home and was the subject of an unflattering, widely circulated New Yorker profile<\/a>, which was mentioned at the trial. Musk has also been exposed to embarrassment during the case, with details about his romantic relationship with former OpenAI board member, Shivon Zilis, becoming public<\/a> and OpenAI president, Greg Brockman,<\/a> describing Musk throwing a tantrum during a meeting shortly before leaving the company.<\/p>\n

The trial is set to hold its closing arguments on Thursday, followed by the nine person jury deliberating whether Altman, Brockman and OpenAI will be held liable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, took the stand on Tuesday to defend himself and his company against a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-580899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}