Highlights
- Musk invested $38m believing OpenAI would remain a charity.
- Company now valued at over $850bn as for-profit entity.
- Trial could force removal of Altman and Brockman from leadership.
The world's richest person is suing OpenAI, its chief executive Sam Altman, and president Greg Brockman, demanding $150 billion in damages.
He wants the company returned to its original non-profit structure and its top executives removed from their positions.
The deception claims
Musk says he invested $38 million in OpenAI when it was founded in 2015, believing it would remain a charity dedicated to ensuring artificial intelligence benefits humanity.
The company is now worth over $850 billion and operates as a for-profit business.
"The defendants in the case stole a charity, and we're asking you to hold them accountable," Steven Molo, Musk's lawyer, told the jury in Oakland.
Musk warned that allowing this would "destroy the entire foundation of charitable giving in America".
OpenAI's lawyers say Musk is lying. Bill Savitt, defending OpenAI and Altman, told the court that Musk himself pushed for the company to become for-profit during his time there.
He only sued after failing to take control, before starting his own rival AI company, xAI, in 2023.
"What he cares about is Elon Musk being on top," Savitt said. "We are here because Mr Musk didn't get his way at OpenAI."
Courtroom power struggle
In 2019, around the time Musk left OpenAI, Brockman wrote: "It'd be wrong to steal the non-profit from him. To convert to a for-profit without him, that'd be pretty morally bankrupt."
He added: "His story will correctly be that we weren't honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for-profit just without him."
OpenAI argues the shift to for-profit in March 2019 was necessary. The company needed massive computing power and had to pay top scientists to compete with Google's DeepMind.
Savitt said Musk wanted to lead the company himself and demanded "the keys to the kingdom" before he left. These private notes, never meant to be public but has become crucial.
Musk is asking the court to strip Altman of all financial benefits from OpenAI and remove both Altman and Brockman from their positions.
Brockman could lose equity worth over $1 billion. Altman claims he owns no direct stake in OpenAI and earns just $76,000 a year, though he is a billionaire from other investments.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and former OpenAI technology officer Mira Murati will testify during the trial, which is expected to last several weeks.
Before the trial started, the judge warned Musk about his social media posts. He had called Altman "Scam Altman" and accused him of stealing a charity on X.
The judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, urged Musk to "control your propensity to use social media" during the trial. Musk agreed to limit his posts.
The case will decide whether OpenAI legally broke its promise to remain a charity and whether Musk was genuinely deceived or simply lost a power struggle.
