Mask testimony dominates first week of Musk v. Altman trial in Oakland

In Musk v. Altman, which pits two tech industry giants against each other in a case that could have significant implications for OpenAI, the plaintiff made his central message clear to the jury.

“You can’t just steal charity,” Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, reiterated on the stand in federal court in Oakland, California.

Musk’s testimony was the centerpiece of the trial’s first week. It will be two years later tesla The SpaceX CEO first sued OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the company’s president, Greg Brockman, alleging that they reneged on their promise to keep the artificial intelligence startup a nonprofit and pursue its philanthropic mission.

Musk, who helped launch OpenAI as a nonprofit organization in 2015, claims that the roughly $38 million he donated to the project was used for unauthorized commercial purposes. OpenAI, currently valued by private investors at more than $850 billion, called Musk’s claims “baseless.” Musk stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2018, launched xAI as a competitor five years later, and merged that business with SpaceX in February.

The trial began Monday with nine jurors seated. Lawyers for both parties made opening arguments Tuesday. The main event was Musk’s testimony, which took place over three days and ended on Thursday.

The courtroom was dark Friday, but the case will resume next week, with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, presiding over the case. Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman are scheduled to testify later this month.

After Musk left OpenAI, the AI ​​Institute moved further toward commercialization, forming a commercial subsidiary in 2018. The business launched ChatGPT in late 2022 and then started growing rapidly after raising $10 billion in capital from the company. microsoft.

Musk testified that he was not entirely opposed to OpenAI having a for-profit arm, but said it would be “wagging the dog’s tail.” He repeatedly accused Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman of lining their own pockets with philanthropy while also reaping the positive connections that come from running a nonprofit organization.

“What you shouldn’t do is have your cake and eat it,” Musk said from the stands.

Musk started OpenAI because googledeemed that there were insufficient concerns about the safety of AI. Musk said he got into a spat with former friend and Google co-founder Larry Page over the issue, with Musk calling him a “pro-human speciesist.”

Musk said that without him, OpenAI would not exist.

“I came up with the idea and the name, hired the key people, taught them everything I know, and provided all the initial funding,” Musk said.

During cross-examination, Musk repeatedly clashed with Wachtell Lipton’s OpenAI lead attorney William Savitt. He accused Savitt of lying and asking misleading questions “with the purpose of deceiving.”

Savitt asked Musk about his involvement in negotiations to establish OpenAI’s for-profit arm and what he knows about the nonprofit’s recent efforts. Musk also asked about competing AI company xAI, even though its merger with SpaceX valued the company at $250 billion. Musk dismissed the company as being a fraction of OpenAI’s size and having minimal market share.

Musk revealed that it was “partially” true that xAI used some of OpenAI’s technology to train its own models, a process known as distillation. He downplayed xAI’s dependence on OpenAI, saying, “It’s standard practice to use other AIs to validate AI.”

Musk told the jury that he had become “disgusted” by Altman and Brockman’s actions since about 2017, but didn’t think he had grounds to sue until much later.

“If I had known sooner that they were stealing charity, I would have filed a lawsuit sooner,” Musk said.

Musk’s lawyers said in a January filing that their client should receive up to $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, which is also named as a defendant. Musk’s team is now arguing that the “ill-gotten gains” should be returned to the OpenAI Foundation.

Musk also calls for Altman and Brockman to be removed from their roles and to “de-commercialize and restructure OpenAI.”

All of this is happening while Musk and Altman are pushing their respective companies toward what could be the largest initial public offering in history. SpaceX has already filed confidentially with the SEC and reportedly plans to begin a roadshow in mid-June for an IPO that could value the company in the trillions of dollars.

After Musk’s testimony concluded on Thursday, his lawyers called Jared Birchall, who manages Musk’s family office, as their next witness.

Birchall testified about specific donations Musk made to OpenAI and his knowledge of Musk’s proposed multibillion-dollar acquisition of OpenAI last year. In February 2025, Musk led a group of investors with a proposal to buy a controlling stake in OpenAI for $97.4 billion, a proposal Altman quickly rejected.

Before the case began on Monday, Gonzalez-Rogers opted to split the trial into two parts. The accountability stage determines whether wrongdoing occurred, and the redress stage determines the appropriate outcome and next steps. Gonzalez-Rogers expects the former to be concluded by May 21st.

The jury deliberates only at the liability stage and its verdict is advisory, meaning Gonzalez-Rogers will make the final decision.

—CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

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