On the heels of Sam Altman's testimony in the ongoing trial of Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, a clearer picture is emerging of how Musk might run the company differently. Musk, who founded OpenAI as a non-profit organization, is suing the company, its CEO Altman and president Greg Brockman for “stealing from charity.” He wants the current $852 billion AI company to return to its original nonprofit structure and is pursuing a fine of up to $180 billion to be passed on by OpenAI's for-profit arm to its nonprofit parent.
Making this decision yesterday (May 12), Altman described Musk as a “brutal” leader, saying that he felt that Musk had “abandoned us, he didn't keep his promises, he put the company in a very difficult place, he put the job at risk, [and] he didn't really care about the things I thought he cared about.”
Musk invested $44 million in OpenAI over five years before stepping down from its board in 2018 following a power struggle. Since then he has not been involved with the company.
Despite Musk's stated desire to keep OpenAI nonprofit, Altman testified that Musk repeatedly sought control of the organization. In 2017, Musk reportedly proposed to merge OpenAI with Tesla, a for-profit company, a move that Altman opposed because of their opposing systems. According to Altman, Musk believes that the merger will create a strong competitor to Google.
Altman also said that Musk initially asked for 90 percent equity in OpenAI. “Then it softened, but there was always a lot,” he testified.
He also recounted what he described as “a particularly hair-raising moment,” when his co-founders asked Musk what would happen to OpenAI if he took control and died. Musk is said to have responded that control should pass to his children. Altman's legal team used the allegations to portray Musk as seeking more control.
For his part, Musk last week testified that his concerns about OpenAI grew after Microsoft's initial investment of $10 billion by 2022, which he called “eat and change” aimed at making a profit. He argued that Microsoft would only make such an investment if it expected a return on investment, adding that this would effectively give Microsoft control of AGI—a technology he believed was originally intended to remain under a non-profit structure.
Today, OpenAI's ownership is spread among several major stakeholders: its non-profit foundation owns about 26 percent, Microsoft owns about 27 percent, and current and former employees collectively hold another 26 percent, with smaller stakes in real estate firms.
Although Musk has argued that OpenAI should have remained non-profit, Altman's testimony tells a different story, where Musk wanted majority control and was not willing to give up control of the organization in the future. Musk said “He wasn't willing to write down that he wouldn't be in control for long.”
Meanwhile, Musk's AI company, xAI, founded in March 2023, operates as a profitable business and is valued at $250 billion, or $1.25 trillion when considered alongside SpaceX.
Altman's credibility also came under scrutiny during the trial. Musk's lead attorney, Steven Molo, asked him directly, “Are you completely honest?”
Previous testimony from other witnesses has added to the complexity of the case. These include OpenAI founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Musk himself. Sutskever, who presided over Altman's ouster for a short time in November 2023, had previously described him as someone who “demonstrates a persistent pattern of lying, underestimating his superiors, and contradicting his superiors,” He testified this week that he began gathering evidence of what he saw as Altman's dishonesty in 2023 and later supported his goal. Altman's return. Former CTO Mira Murati also testified that Altman had a tendency to “create chaos.”
