Elon Musk spent the better part of three days on the stand, accusing OpenAI and its executives of deceiving him into donating money to help found what is now one of the world’s biggest AI companies.
The lawsuit pits Musk against his former collaborators-turned-competitors, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, whom Musk alleges unjustly enriched themselves when they strayed from OpenAI’s founding mission as a nonprofit organization to become a for-profit company. Musk also named Microsoft as a co-defendant in the case, accusing the company of aiding and abetting OpenAI’s breach of charitable trust.
The big personalities and high stakes of the trial were on full display in court, as Musk regularly clashed with OpenAI’s attorney, accusing him of trying to “trick me.” The judge occasionally scolded the parties involved, at one point going so far as to tell Musk to actually answer the questions he’s being asked and warning them to stop talking about whether AI will cause human extinction.
OpenAI and Microsoft have argued that Musk was supportive of creating a for-profit arm of the company. They say he is only bringing the suit because he wasn’t able to take complete control of OpenAI and now wants to bring down a competitor.
Musk’s AI plans under scrutiny
William Savitt, OpenAI’s lawyer, suggested that Musk quit OpenAI’s board in February 2018 because he was blocked from taking unilateral control of the company. Musk, however, said he quit the board to focus on his other companies, including SpaceX and Tesla.
Savitt suggested that in the years after Musk left the board, he took actions to hobble OpenAI, especially after forming a competing company, xAI.
In questioning, Savitt asked whether Musk disclosed that he started his own AI company when he signed a public letter in 2023 advocating to pause development of AI systems that are more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4. Savitt also brought up the attempt Musk led last year to buy OpenAI with a group of for-profit investors, to which Musk responded: “There’s nothing wrong with having a for-profit organization, you just can’t steal a charity.”
Savitt also pressed Musk on why he hasn’t created an AI nonprofit since leaving OpenAI’s board. Musk said that he didn’t create a new one because he had started OpenAI.
“Why would I start another nonprofit when I already started a nonprofit? That doesn’t make any sense,” Musk said.
Debate over AI safety risks
The debate in the courtroom extended beyond OpenAI’s founding into the safety risks posed by AI just before questioning began Thursday.
“We could all die” because of AI, Steven Molo, Musk’s attorney, said to OpenAI’s attorney and Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers before the jury and Musk were seated on Thursday. But Judge Gonzales Rogers said such dire statements wouldn’t be permitted in front of the jury, especially given that Musk had founded xAI, his own for-profit AI company.
“I suspect there are plenty of people who don’t want to put the future of humanity in Mr. Musk’s hands, but it doesn’t matter, we aren’t going to get into those issues,” Rogers said, noting the trial is not about whether or not AI has damaged humanity.
Musk registered a for-profit corporation
The question at the heart of the case is whether OpenAI and its executives unjustly turned the company into a profit-seeking company, breaching its original mission and misleading Musk.
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