Sam Altman and Elon Musk are facing off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of OpenAI and its most well-known product, ChatGPT. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead.
The trial began with jury selection on April 27th. Elon Musk took the stand on April 28th as the first witness called, portraying his interest in founding OpenAI as an effort to help save humanity, then returned to the stand on April 29th and again for a third day of testimony on April 30th, before his financial manager and Neuralink CEO, Jared Birchall, took the stand.
Week two of the trial has begun, with professor Stuart Russell and OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman scheduled to take the stand on Monday, May 4th.
Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI and claims that Altman and Brockman tricked him into giving the company money, only to turn their backs on their original goal. However, OpenAI says that “This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor” in a bid to boost Musk’s own SpaceX / xAI / X companies that have launched Grok as a competitor to ChatGPT.
In his lawsuit, Musk is asking for the removal of Altman and Brockman, and for OpenAI to stop operating as a public benefit corporation. Musk has also demanded that OpenAI’s nonprofit receive up to $150 billion in damages he’s asking for if he wins the case.
Here’s all the latest on the trial between Musk and Altman:
- Sure is lucky that mentions of Grok’s safety issues got limited.
- Individual vs. systemic risk.
- We now have a very boring expert witness testifying to AI risks.
- Stuart Russell is here to tell us about AI.
- “I need that today. That’s good. I like that.”
- Greg Brockman won’t be asked about Musk’s threat.
- Elon Musk tried to settle before the trial — and got threatening.
- Musk v. Altman is getting a live audio stream next week.
- OpenAI Tesla receipts and other Musk v. Altman documents.
- All the evidence revealed so far in Musk v. Altman
- Here’s how Gabe Newell and Hideo Kojima ended up in the Musk v. Altman evidence.
- The craziest part of Musk v. Altman happened while the jury was out of the room
- Jury is being dismissed early so YGR can deal with an objection to Birchall’s testimony.
- Birchall is actually very funny outside of court? Good for him.
- We are now hearing about the pause in quarterly donations.
- We’re back.
- Second break of the day.
- Birchall cross.
- Elon Musk confirms xAI used OpenAI’s models to train Grok
- Birchall has just been asked about the four Teslas.
- Birchall testifies about Musk’s contributions to OpenAI.
- A woman in the gallery has lowered a sleep mask over her eyes and is attempting to sleep.
- Musk steps down. He may be recalled.
- We are on re-cross. Musk is getting testy again.
- The Microsoft investment comes back up.
- And we’re back.
- We’re in break — and I just checked out something interesting.
- Elon Musk’s robot army definitely will not kill you.
- Musk insists he wasn’t kneecapping OpenAI.
- Musk seems notably more subdued today.
- “At least change the name,” Musk says he told Altman.
- Elon Musk v. Capitalism.
- An “ongoing conversation” around open source.
- We’re still talking about whether Musk read the term sheet.
- The jurors have been seated.
- Musk has just entered the courtroom.
- “Issues of extinction are excluded.”
- Good morning!
- Elon Musk’s worst enemy in court is Elon Musk
- Freedom!
- Unfortunately we will not be talking about safety details of any specific product.
- The jury is leaving for the day. “I suspect it’s a nice day out there,” YGR says.
- Mechahitler might be a bad look for the AI safety defender.
- Musk’s broader AI safety commitment (or lack thereof) comes up.
- This is so testy.
- Did Musk even read the OpenAI term sheet?
- Musk asked Shivon Zilis to stay ‘close and friendly’ with OpenAI to keep info flowing.
- Musk says xAI probably won’t be the first to get to AGI.
- We’re back from a break, talking about SpaceX and xAI.
- Don’t worry about Tesla’s robot army!
- “You mostly do unfair questions.”
- “It’s a free country.”
- “Will you answer my question?”
- Musk’s desire for control comes up again.
- “This is a hypothetical.”
- Did Musk initially envision OpenAI as a corporation?
- Musk is being combative on cross already
- “I did say that I would commit up to a billion dollars, yes.”
- Is Tesla really not working on AGI?
- Musk is returning to the stand.
- At times, being a judge is much like being a kindergarden teacher.
- We’re on a break.
- “I mean, all due respect to Microsoft, do you really want Microsoft controlling digital superintelligence?”
- “What’s going on here this is a bait and switch.”
- A Musk-Altman spat about Microsoft.
- Musk really cannot help himself.
- “Capped profit” wasn’t an issue, even when Microsoft got involved.
- “Tesla is not pursuing AGI.”
- Musk is more on his game today.
- “After I received these reassurances that OpenAI would continue to be a non-profit I continued to donate over $10 million.”
- “I actually was a fool who provided free funding for them to create a startup.”
- More discussion of who would own OpenAI.
- “I don’t lose my temper,” says Elon Musk.
- “2017 was a hard year, and we’ve made mistakes.”
- “I formed many for-profit tech companies, and could have done so with OAI.”
- “Crystal clear focus.”
- Sam Altman has just entered the room, right ahead of the jury.
- A member of the public just got dressed down by YGR about taking photos.
- Musk v Altman et al. is back in session.
- In naming OpenAI, Elon Musk worried anything related to the Turing Test could mean bad PR.
- Elon Musk appeared more petty than prepared
- That’s a wrap!
- YGR scolds OpenAI for taking inconsistent positions on the origin of its name.
- Elon Musk tells the jury that all he wants to do is save humanity
- Arguments over ownership.
- Apparently OpenAI could have had an ICO.
- “I was not averse to a small for-profit,” Musk says.
- We’re reading emails between Musk and Jensen Huang.
- Musk says nonprofit was non-negotiable for OpenAI.
- We’re at the founding of OpenAI.
- Musk says he would have created something like OpenAI on his own.
- Musk recalls meeting Sam Altman.
- Sam Altman left during a break, but Elon Musk’s lawyer didn’t notice.
- “Here we are in 2026 and AI is scary smart.”
- “I have extreme concerns about AI,” says Musk.
- AI will be as smart as ‘any human as soon as next year.’
- Musk claims he has time for SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and the Boring Company because he works a lot.
- Musk is telling the jury he (co)founded Tesla.
- Neuralink’s long-term goal is… AI?
- “There need to be things that people are excited about that make life worth living … being out there among the stars can excite everyone.”
- A little Musk biography.
- Elon Musk, looking funereal in a black suit with a black tie, says “it’s not okay to steal a charity.”
- Elon Musk takes the stand in high-profile trial against OpenAI
- We are back from a break.
- Elon Musk will be the first witness in Musk v. Altman.
- “Microsoft unlocked with OpenAI a virtuous cycle.”
- Microsoft enters the chat.
- “We are here because Mr Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI.”
- “[Musk] demanded control, he demanded the ability to make all the decisions without regard to the other founders.”
- OpenAI lawyers argue that Elon was right in the middle of discussions about a for-profit pivot.
- “Musk was furious that OpenAI succeeded.”
- OpenAI: Musk’s lawsuit is a “pageant of hypocrisy.”
- Sam Altman’s “related party conflicted transactions” are how he made money on OpenAI, Molo says.
- Technical difficulties.
- OpenAI is like a museum store that has looted the Picassos and pocketed the profits.
- AGI might be out of fashion in the AI world, but it will be at the center of this trial
- “The defendants in this case stole a charity.”
- Musk and Altman go to court
- Good morning from the Musk v Altman line outside the courtroom.
- Jury selection in Musk v. Altman: ‘People don’t like him’
- We have a jury.
- Elon Musk’s lawyer tried to get some jurors thrown out for disliking Musk.
- Apparently things are exciting outside.
- We have gone through the first 20 potential jurors.
- Voir dire has begun.
- The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today.
- Elon Musk drops fraud claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman before trial.
- Musk vs. Altman is here, and it’s going to get messy
- Elon Musk is about to be a very busy boy!
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