Trial Begins in Elon Musk's Lawsuit Against OpenAI Human Human reporting portrays the Musk v. OpenAI trial as a high-profile federal civil case over whether OpenAI’s leaders abandoned a nonprofit, public-benefit mission in favor of profit and a deep alignment with Microsoft, potentially betraying Elon Musk’s early financial backing. It highlights courtroom dynamics, juror skepticism toward AI and Musk, the key witnesses and documents, and the possibility that the verdict could force changes in OpenAI’s leadership, structure, and funding. npub17dlty7akad2z2ultf8w86wa29cy7uq3d2q57qezq74sa3pfeyw6s9yclgf npub1cwr440tx0c73gkjfpmcne9fny0djdwttnksfrfqfjq4ltmnznjwqqzxdxr npub1pm4rys9akhgkta0jfv2t9m3ytxvl84z9zhkze024f5ly25rvmk6q5agr0y The showdown over who controls the future of OpenAI has left the lab and stepped into a federal courtroom, turning a once‑idealistic AI project into a referendum on power, profit, and promises in Silicon Valley.
From utopian lab to courtroom grudge match
When Elon Musk and Sam Altman helped launch OpenAI in 2015, it was sold as a nonprofit moonshot to build artificial intelligence "for humanity," not shareholders. Musk says that commitment was the only reason he poured in what he now frames as an essentially philanthropic stake — some $38 million in early funding.1
The harmony did not last. Musk exited OpenAI’s board in 2018, publicly over conflicts of interest but privately, he says, because the lab was drifting toward secrecy and profit. That rift hardened into a formal complaint in 2024, when Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, president Greg Brockman, and Microsoft.
By Musk’s telling, OpenAI performed a bait‑and‑switch: it lured him in as a nonprofit dedicated to the public good, then pivoted into a tightly controlled, mega‑valued AI giant tethered to Microsoft while still trading on its original mission language.2 He claims his investment was misused and that the company abandoned its founding charter in favor of "boosting profits" and enriching a small circle of insiders.3
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft, counters that there was no such betrayal. The organization insists it remains a nonprofit with a capped‑profit subsidiary attached — a structure designed, they argue, to fund inherently expensive AI safety research without losing sight of the original mission.4
The trial opens in Oakland
On April 27, the dispute stopped being a war of blog posts and X threads and became a live federal civil trial in Oakland, California. Jury selection began Monday, kicking off what one outlet framed as a "$134 billion showdown" between two of tech’s most powerful figures.1
Reporters in the room watched as the case styled "Musk v. Altman" got underway. The Verge noted flatly that "The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today," with jury selection starting shortly thereafter.5 Another Verge report called it a "high-stakes trial that could alter the future of tech’s leading AI startup, OpenAI."3
In a twist, Sam Altman quietly slipped into the Oakland courtroom for day one, wearing a dark suit and white shirt.2 Elon Musk did not. Because this is a civil trial, neither party is required to attend unless they’re testifying.2
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a seasoned Northern District of California judge, told prospective jurors the trial should run through about May 21 before going to the jury.3 There will be nine jurors, but they won’t decide everything: Rogers will ultimately rule on liability and on any "remedies" — including whether OpenAI’s leadership and structure must be changed.4
Inside the jury box: AI skeptics and Musk critics
If this is a case about humanity’s AI future, humanity is walking into court with attitude.
During voir dire, some would‑be jurors were brutally candid about Musk and artificial intelligence. One construction worker, who described himself as a "meme junky" and a "dying breed" who still gets print newspapers, told the judge: "Elon doesn't care about people, just like our president," before adding that he believes Musk only cares about money.2
Another prospective juror, a city of Oakland employee, admitted in a questionnaire that he considered Musk a "jerk," but told the court he would do his "best" to be fair.2
Musk’s lawyers tried to strike some of the more Musk‑skeptical jurors. Judge Rogers was unmoved. "The reality is that people don’t like him," she said, according to a live courtroom report. "Many people don’t like him, but that doesn’t mean that Americans nevertheless can’t have integrity for the judicial process."3
Many prospective jurors had used AI tools like ChatGPT, with opinions ranging from enthusiasm to suspicion.3 In that sense, the panel is a microcosm of the broader public: intrigued by AI’s power, uneasy about who wields it.
Musk’s case: betrayal, bait‑and‑switch, and "Scam Altman"
Musk’s legal filings accuse OpenAI’s leadership of tricking him into backing a nonprofit mission they never intended to honor. One influential framing, amplified by Musk himself, calls the saga a classic con: "OpenAi bait-and-switched Elon, pretending to a non-profit mission to save humanity until it pocketed his donations. Elon should win."6
Another viral thread Musk endorsed alleges a pattern in which OpenAI started as a nonprofit "for humanity" but by 2018 had gone "closed and profit-first," evolving into "basically a Microsoft subsidiary chasing billions while pretending it’s still open."7
On the morning of jury selection, Musk personally escalated his rhetoric, posting: "Scam Altman …" on X in a jab that set the tone for the day.8 In another short post, he simply replied "Yup" to the "Scam Altman" critique, effectively blessing the accusation as his own.9
In court, Musk is asking for more than money. His lawsuit seeks the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles and demands that OpenAI stop operating as a public benefit corporation, potentially unwinding its hybrid structure.3 He wants all of OpenAI’s for‑profit value re‑anchored to its nonprofit parent — and has floated a colossal damages figure of up to $150 billion, which he says should flow back into the nonprofit if he wins.34
Musk’s supporters online cast him as the wronged visionary. One commentator, in a tweet Musk retweeted, declared: "Elon’s influence was monumental to OpenAI. The reality is there simply wouldn’t have been the AI world we have today. It is not perfect. But would have been orders of magnitude worse."10
Another Musk‑boosting account argued that this isn’t some petty billionaire spat, insisting that Musk doesn’t splash his wealth on "a yacht, a paradise island, or extravagant spending," and claiming even the proceeds of this lawsuit, if he wins, would not go to personal luxuries.11
Together, those posts bolster the core narrative Musk wants jurors to absorb: he is the mission‑driven founder fighting to restore a hijacked project, not a jealous rival trying to kneecap a competitor.
OpenAI’s response: jealousy, harassment, and a mission on trial
OpenAI and Altman say Musk is rewriting history to suit his own competitive needs.
The Verge reported that OpenAI’s official line is blunt: "This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor" in order to favor Musk’s own ventures — SpaceX, X, and his AI startup xAI, which recently rolled its Grok chatbot deeper into his business empire.3
Ars Technica echoed that framing, noting that OpenAI views the case as "nothing more than a continuation of an alleged harassment campaign" as Musk’s xAI "races to catch up" with OpenAI after ChatGPT’s explosive debut in 2022.4
Altman’s side also warns that Musk’s shifting public stance on AI risks undercutting his credibility. Once one of the loudest voices warning about AI’s existential dangers, Musk now aggressively markets his own cutting‑edge models even as he warns about others’ — a contradiction OpenAI’s lawyers are likely to highlight.4
Still, OpenAI admits the stakes are enormous. Ars Technica notes that if Musk wins, "OpenAI’s hopes of growing a for-profit arm that can fund the nonprofit could be dashed," Altman could lose his board seat, and both he and Brockman could be removed as officers.4
If Altman prevails, critics fear the original mission might be diluted in practice, with OpenAI perhaps following "in the footsteps of Google," whose "Don’t be evil" mantra famously faded as commercial pressures mounted.4
The cast: a who’s who of the AI era
The witness list for this trial reads like a Davos panel on AI. Business Insider describes it as a roster of "OpenAI insiders [and] Silicon Valley visionaries," including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI cofounder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, former CTO Mira Murati, president Greg Brockman, investor and Musk lieutenant Jared Birchall, and Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, among others.1
Musk himself is expected to spend at least six hours on the stand, testifying as OpenAI investor, plaintiff, and star witness.1 Altman, too, is expected to face extended questioning as jurors parse two competing origin stories: one about a betrayed idealist, the other about a cofounder who walked away, then came back with a lawsuit when a rival company surged ahead.
Beyond Musk v. Altman: what’s really on trial
Strip away the billionaire theatrics and something larger is being tested in that Oakland courtroom: can a tech company scale to hundreds of billions of dollars in value and still convincingly claim an overriding duty to humanity at large?
Ars Technica calls it "a trial that will determine OpenAI’s future," warning that the outcome "could radically change the AI landscape" — not only for OpenAI’s structure and funding, but for how the industry thinks about blending nonprofit missions with for‑profit firepower.4
In the coming weeks, jurors will hear about obscure corporate forms, philanthropic promises, and private diary entries from OpenAI’s early days that could sway the case.4 Outside, AI continues to spread through classrooms, offices, and governments, largely governed by the values of the few companies building it.
The question looming over Oakland isn’t just whether Musk was personally misled. It’s whether "for humanity" can survive contact with a trillion‑dollar market — and who gets to define that mission when the profits, and the power, finally arrive.
1. Business Insider: Meet the players in the Musk-Altman fight, from OpenAI insiders to Silicon Valley visionaries — "Jury selection begins Monday in a $134 billion showdown between two of the world's most powerful tech titans — Elon Musk, the richest man on earth, and rival AI developer Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT."
2. Business Insider: Sam Altman makes surprise courtroom appearance as potential jurors slam AI, Elon Musk — "Sam Altman made an unexpected appearance in a California courtroom Monday as jury selection in his high-stakes legal feud with Elon Musk kicked off" and prospective jurors voiced that "Elon doesn't care about people" and called him a "jerk."
3. The Verge: Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s Court Battle Over the Future of OpenAI — Musk’s 2024 lawsuit "accuses OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead" and seeks leadership changes and up to $150 billion in damages.
4. Ars Technica: Musk and Altman face off in trial that will determine OpenAI's future — A "hotly anticipated trial" where Musk will try to prove OpenAI abandoned its nonprofit mission, with OpenAI calling the case a jealous harassment campaign and warning the outcome could "radically change the AI landscape."
5. The Verge: The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today. — Reporter’s dispatch from inside the courtroom: "The Elon Musk vs. OpenAI trial starts today. I’m in the courtroom — and jury selection will begin shortly. Sam Altman is here, but I haven’t seen Elon Musk."
6. @elonmusk on X — Retweet: "OpenAi bait-and-switched Elon, pretending to a non-profit mission to save humanity until it pocketed his donations. Elon should win."
7. @elonmusk on X — Replying "Yup" to a post calling Altman "Scam Altman" and alleging OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit "for humanity" but is now "basically a Microsoft subsidiary chasing billions while pretending it’s still open."
8. @elonmusk on X — "Scam Altman … https://t.co/hj3xiP5FKY"
9. @elonmusk on X — Single-word post: "Yup" amplifying a thread accusing OpenAI of going "closed and profit-first."
10. @elonmusk on X — Retweet: "Elon’s influence was monumental to OpenAI. The reality is there simply wouldn’t have been the AI world we have today. It is not perfect. But would have been orders of magnitude worse. This is the way of it."
11. @elonmusk on X — Retweet defending Musk’s motives: "When have you ever seen Elon Musk use his money to buy a yacht, a paradise island, or engage in extravagant spending? Even the money from this lawsuit, if he wins,..."
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