Elon Musk testifies in OpenAI trial

Elon Musk took the stand Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, opening his case against OpenAI, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and Microsoft. (apnews.com) (usnews.com) Musk told jurors OpenAI was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit to develop artificial intelligence for humanity, not private gain. He said the later shift to a for-profit structure amounted to “loot[ing] a charity.” (usnews.com) (npr.org) His lawyer, Steven Molo, told the nine-person jury that Altman, Brockman and Microsoft “stole a charity.” The trial is scheduled to run about three weeks. (apnews.com) (abcnews.go.com) OpenAI says the case is really about control. Its lawyer, William Savitt, told jurors Musk tried to use promised funding to pressure the founders, wanted OpenAI merged with Tesla, and sought majority ownership of a for-profit entity. (apnews.com) Musk sued in 2024, saying OpenAI broke a “Founding Agreement” by abandoning its nonprofit mission and deepening its commercial ties with Microsoft. He is seeking $150 billion in damages and Altman’s removal from OpenAI’s board. (abcnews.go.com) (apnews.com) At the center of the case is OpenAI’s structure. The company says it began as a nonprofit in 2015 and created a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 to raise the capital needed for computing power and talent, while keeping nonprofit control. (openai.com) The courtroom fight now turns that corporate design into a legal question: whether OpenAI’s leaders lawfully changed how the lab was financed and governed, or diverted a charitable mission into a private business. (abcnews.go.com) (openai.com) The stakes are larger than a founder dispute because OpenAI is no longer a small research lab. The company closed a funding round at an $852 billion valuation on March 31, 2026. (cnbc.com) (techcrunch.com) Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is splitting the case into a liability phase and a remedies phase. Musk and OpenAI each get 22 hours in the liability portion, while Microsoft gets five. (abcnews.go.com) Before jurors were seated Tuesday, Gonzalez Rogers also admonished Musk over X posts attacking Altman and said both sides should minimize social media commentary during trial. (usnews.com) Musk is expected back on the stand Wednesday for more testimony and cross-examination. The case will decide whether OpenAI’s rise was a lawful restructuring or, as Musk put it, a stolen charity. (usnews.com)