Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, world's richest man and OpenAI cofounder, took the stand Tuesday in a high-stakes trial revolving around a bitter feud with his former friend Sam Altman that could reshape the future development of artificial intelligence.
His testimony at the Oakland, California, federal courthouse kicked off a legal drama that is expected to brim with intrigue and potentially embarrassing details about the two tech moguls. Musk filed the lawsuit against Altman and his top lieutenant, Greg Brockman, along with Microsoft over its investments in OpenAI, in 2024.
“Fundamentally, I think they’re going to try to make this lawsuit ... very complicated, but it’s actually very simple,” Musk said. “Which is that it's not OK to steal a charity.”
The nine-person jury was selected Monday and the trial is scheduled to take three weeks.
And moving now to Oakland, California, the OpenAI lawsuit begins. Lawyers on both sides
presented their opening arguments on the company's mission and structure.
NDD's David Lam has more from the courthouse.
On day two of the highly anticipated OpenAI trial, Elon Musk took the stand saying that
he wouldn't have invested in OpenAI if he knew the company was going to be for profit.
Sam Altman's lawyer, on the other hand, says that Musk never expressed his view about this.
Now this discussion will determine the fate of ChatGPT's developer.
During the Musk v. Altman trial, lawyers presented opening arguments Tuesday.
Attorney Steven Mollo, representing Musk, asked the jury to consider three questions
throughout the trial. One, did OpenAI have a charitable mission to operate as a non-profit,
open-source organization to benefit humanity? Two, did Sam Altman and Gregory Brockman,
OpenAI's heads, violate that mission? Three, did Microsoft know and assist in breaching the
mission? The lead attorney for OpenAI, William Savitt, claimed that Musk didn't express that
OpenAI had to remain purely non-profit, and alleged that Musk never donated all the funds he promised,
resulting in the organization looking for additional support.
Microsoft's lawyer explained the company's investments in OpenAI and its partnership,
where more than $13 billion was invested since 2019.
The jury trial is being overseen by Judge Yvonne Rogers and expected to last several weeks.
In Oakland, California, David Lam, NTD News.
