The judicial drama that shakes the tech world
Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI and the richest person on the planet, took the stand Tuesday in a trial that promises to redefine the future of artificial intelligence. His testimony in Oakland, California, is the first chapter in a legal battle against his former friend Sam Altman.
“They robbed a charity,” Musk shot from the bench. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, accuses Altman, Greg Brockman and Microsoft of deviating from OpenAI’s founding mission: to develop safe AI for humanity, not to line pockets.
The initial arguments
Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, was blunt: He cited OpenAI’s original promise as a nonprofit entity. “With the help of Microsoft, Altman and Brockman stole a charity whose mission was the safe and open development of artificial intelligence,” he said.
But OpenAI has another version. His lawyer, William Savitt, counterattacked: “We are here because Mr. Musk did not get his way with OpenAI.” According to Savitt, Musk wanted to take control and merge the company with Tesla. He even wanted to own more than 50% of a for-profit version.
“Fundamentally, I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit very complicated, but it’s actually very simple,” Musk said. “It’s not okay to steal from a charity.”
What really happened?
By 2017 it became clear that OpenAI needed more money. They created a for-profit arm to support the nonprofit—with limits on investors. But in 2022 came the twist: Microsoft invested $2 billion and everything changed.
Molo summed it up this way: “It was no longer open source. It became a for-profit company where Microsoft would control much of its intellectual property.”
The personal testimony
Musk told his story from South Africa to the United States—even working as a lumberjack—and revealed intimate details about his vision for AI.
About the risks: He compared super-intelligent AI to having a very smart child: when he grows up you can’t control him, you can only instill in him values such as honesty and integrity.
The initial spark occurred during an argument with Larry Page (Google), who called him a “speciesist” for prioritizing human survival over AI. That led Musk and Altman to team up in 2015 to create a responsible counterweight to Google and Meta.
“Google had all the money, all the computers and all the talent,” Musk recalled. “There was no counterweight.”
What’s coming
Altman will testify soon—he missed a key event with Amazon because he was tied up in court. Satya Nadella (Microsoft) will also testify. The trial will last three weeks and could reshape how artificial intelligence is developed globally.
