Elon Musk spent Wednesday in a California federal courtroom, telling jurors that Sam Altman and OpenAI's co-founders 'stole a charity.' By the end of cross-examination, he'd also admitted under oath that Tesla isn't pursuing AGI, contradicting a tweet he posted weeks ago claiming Tesla would be 'one of the companies to make AGI.' OpenAI's lawyer William Savitt walked Musk through his own 2017 proposal to fold OpenAI into Tesla with himself holding majority equity, and emails showing he tried to poach OpenAI staff while still on its board. Musk also conceded that the $100 million investment he's claimed publicly was actually $38 million, arguing his reputation and network made up the difference.
The lawsuit hinges on whether OpenAI's shift from capped investor profits to uncapped returns violated its founding non-profit charter. Musk insists there's a meaningful difference. OpenAI counters that Musk himself pushed for a for-profit structure years ago, and that this lawsuit is really about hobbling a competitor. That competitor angle is hard to ignore. Musk founded xAI in 2023, raising billions for its Grok model, after his attempt to take control of OpenAI failed. He's now arguing OpenAI should stay non-profit or open-source origins while building closed-source AI technology of his own.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers made clear she's interested in how both OpenAI and xAI approach safety, not in AI-caused scandals. Musk returns to the stand Thursday for more questioning. Also expected to testify: OpenAI president Greg Brockman and AI safety researcher Stuart Russell.