Sam Altman Testifies Against Elon Musk in OpenAI Trial

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has begun his testimony against Elon Musk in a high-profile jury trial in a California federal courtroom. Altman follows on the heels of OpenAI’s president, Microsoft’s CEO, and others who have already appeared.

Altman, alongside OpenAI president Greg Brockman, is a primary defendant in the trial brought by Musk. Altman, Brockman, and Musk were all part of the initial founding team at OpenAI. Musk invested up to $38 million in the ChatGPT-maker's early days.

The relationship between Musk and other OpenAI founders eventually soured. Musk stepped away from the company. He later founded his own direct competitor, xAI.

In recent years, Musk and Altman have traded barbs and made a slew of allegations against each other. These conflicts were driven largely by Musk’s handful of legal actions against OpenAI, many of which have since been dropped or dismissed.

The Musk v. Altman trial has already drawn testimony from prominent AI industry leaders including Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, and former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. Zilis is the mother of Musk’s children. Murati, who briefly served as OpenAI CEO, is now founder of her own AI startup, Thinking Machines Lab.

Musk is calling for a number of remedies. These include asking the court to strip both Altman and Brockman of their roles and to unwind OpenAI’s for-profit restructuring. The proceedings form part of a court battle over the future of OpenAI.

OpenAI has called Sam Altman as a witness. Bret Taylor is back on the stand. Taylor says the reason OpenAI Foundation has been able to do more work is the recapitalization.