Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, testified on Tuesday before a jury in Oakland, California, in a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against the company. Musk seeks to reverse OpenAI’s capped‑profit structure and is claiming more than $100 billion in damages. The case concerns a company currently valued at roughly $852 billion.
According to Altman, Elon Musk repeatedly tried to gain control of OpenAI from its founding in 2015 until his departure in 2018. Altman said Musk at one point demanded a 90 percent ownership stake; although Musk later lowered that demand in negotiations, he consistently sought majority control. Altman also said discussions at one point included the possibility of folding OpenAI into Tesla.
In what Altman described as a particularly startling exchange, the co‑founders asked Musk what would happen if he died. Musk allegedly replied that he had not thought much about it, but that control might pass to his children.
Altman said Musk repeatedly stated he would only work at companies he could fully control. That stance made Altman uncomfortable because OpenAI was founded in part on the belief that artificial general intelligence should not be concentrated in the hands of a single individual, regardless of their intentions.
The CEO testified that Musk’s 2018 exit improved morale in some respects. Altman said he had mixed feelings about the departure, arguing that Musk did not understand how to run a research lab and that his approach demotivated key staff. Altman recounted that Musk allegedly asked Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever to create a performance‑based list of researchers to enable ruthless staff cuts, an approach that significantly harmed team morale.
OpenAI’s position in the suit is that Musk did not oppose converting the organization to a profit‑seeking structure while it appeared that he could control it. The company argues that allegations of betraying its nonprofit mission are part of a long‑running campaign of retaliation by Musk.
The outcome of the lawsuit could have major implications for OpenAI’s future and governance. Continued testimony and court proceedings are expected to shed further light on the dispute’s consequences for the artificial intelligence sector and the companies involved.
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The lead image is illustrative. Image source: Getty Images.
