Elon Musk Challenges OpenAI Lawyer in Court
During the second day of his testimony, Elon Musk displayed moments of combative behavior while being questioned by OpenAI's lawyer, William Savitt. Musk accused Savitt of posing overly complex questions designed to mislead him.
Your questions are not simple,
They're designed to trick me essentially,
Musk is pursuing legal action against OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and the AI company itself, alleging that they misled him by transitioning the organization from its original non-profit mission to a for-profit structure.
OpenAI contends that Musk's lawsuit is driven by jealousy and regret over his departure from the company in 2018. The firm has also accused Musk, who leads xAI, of attempting to undermine a major competitor.
In the courtroom, Musk appeared in a dark suit and tie as he began his testimony, with Altman and OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, who is also named in the lawsuit, seated in the front row.
Musk admitted that he initially intended to maintain control over OpenAI but anticipated that control would shift quickly as additional investors became involved.
The tech entrepreneur explained that he wanted to ensure the company’s direction was appropriate early on because he was providing nearly all the funding.
Highlighting his experience founding numerous for-profit companies, Musk stated,
I could have done that with OpenAI, but I chose not to. I chose something that was for the public benefit.
I deliberately chose to create this as a non-profit for the public good.
Musk is seeking billions of dollars in what his legal team describes as "wrongful gains," which he wants allocated to support OpenAI’s non-profit division. He also calls for significant changes within the company, including the removal of Altman.
OpenAI maintains that Musk is using the lawsuit as a tactic to disrupt one of his chief rivals in the AI industry, despite his public image as an advocate for AI safety and regulation.
Legal Arguments and Musk’s Motives
In court, Savitt challenged Musk’s claim that his desire to keep OpenAI non-profit stemmed from concerns about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) — AI that surpasses human intelligence — falling into inappropriate hands.
One year after OpenAI launched the highly successful ChatGPT, Musk introduced a competing AI startup, xAI.
Savitt emphasized Musk’s choice to establish xAI, which produces the chatbot Grok, as a for-profit enterprise.
The ongoing case, which could have significant implications for the AI sector, is expected to continue for several weeks.
Musk, who also leads Tesla and SpaceX, is demanding billions in "wrongful gains" to fund OpenAI’s non-profit efforts and to instigate a leadership overhaul at the company, including Altman’s ouster.
His legal claims include breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.
The lawsuit, filed by Musk in 2024, accuses Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft — which has invested tens of billions into OpenAI — of betraying the company’s original non-profit mission.
Musk has criticized OpenAI’s decision to establish a commercial arm in 2019, years before launching ChatGPT and sparking the AI market boom.
His own AI venture, xAI, launched in 2023, a year after ChatGPT’s debut, but has lagged behind competitors.
OpenAI argues that Musk was aware of the commercial arm’s creation and only left the company after failing to secure the CEO position.
Musk contributed $38 million to the OpenAI non-profit, which the organization states was "spent exactly as intended and in service of the mission."
Musk’s Opening Statement and Courtroom Dynamics
On Tuesday, during his opening remarks, Musk explained the core issue behind the lawsuit to one of his attorneys as he took the stand.
It's actually very simple,
It's not okay to steal a charity... If it's okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving will be destroyed.
In response, Savitt accused Musk of attempting to undermine a competitor through the lawsuit.
We're here because Mr Musk didn't get his way at OpenAI,
Because he's a competitor, Mr Musk will do anything to attack OpenAI.
Savitt further alleged that Musk used his investment to intimidate other OpenAI founders and sought to merge the company with Tesla, which he also owns.
Altman is also expected to provide testimony during the trial.
for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? here.
