Elon Musk returned to the witness stand for a second day Wednesday as the federal trial continued in Oakland, California, pitting the world’s richest person against Sam Altman, a fellow OpenAI co-founder he accuses of breaking promises about keeping OpenAI a nonprofit. The case centers on how the ChatGPT maker began in 2015 as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk and then evolved into a capitalistic venture valued at $852 billion, according to testimony and case framing presented during the trial.
Musk, testifying after being questioned by his lawyer Steven Molo, described his concerns about Altman’s plans for the organization. Musk told the court that by late 2022 he believed Altman was trying to “steal the charity,” and he added, “It turned out to be true,” as he spoke from the witness stand.
As the proceedings continued, Altman was present at the courthouse but was not scheduled to testify Wednesday, according to the reporting. The trial began Monday and is expected to last about four weeks, with both sides using the testimony to build competing narratives about what Musk believed was promised at OpenAI’s founding and what he says later changed.
During cross-examination, Musk faced questions from OpenAI lawyer William Savitt about early planning and the structure of the company before and after its nonprofit start. The questioning included emails Musk wrote before OpenAI’s founding in 2015, including whether it would be better to make OpenAI a standard for-profit company and issues relating to tax deductions connected to Musk’s donations to the nonprofit.
Musk pushed back repeatedly during the cross-examination, telling the jury through the judge’s management of courtroom questioning that “Your questions are not simple,” adding that he believed they were designed to “trick me essentially.” When Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers asked him for a direct yes-or-no answer on whether OpenAI was formed as a nonprofit in December 2015, Musk said the answer was yes, while also warning that the issue could involve more than a straightforward response.
Asked to answer whether it was true or false that OpenAI was formed as a nonprofit in December 2015, Musk testified that the answer was yes, but that the matter was not always “simple,” comparing it to the difficulty of responding to a question like “have you stopped beating your wife?” The judge then replied, “We are not going to go there,” prompting laughs in the courtroom.
Beyond the courtroom sparring, the case has broader stakes for the artificial intelligence industry and for OpenAI’s corporate trajectory. Musk’s lawsuit seeks Altman’s ouster from OpenAI’s board, and Musk’s win, according to the trial framing, could disrupt OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering of its shares.
Musk also described his decision to stop funding OpenAI as part of a widening break with his former allies, saying his views on Altman and his co-founders moved through three phases—from initial excitement to losing confidence to a late-2022 period when he said he thought “wait a second, these guys are betraying their promise.” OpenAI’s legal team has said Musk’s challenge aims at controlling the company for himself, and Musk testified that he initially sought a majority stake and control of four out of seven board seats, although he said that control would have been diluted as OpenAI gained more shareholders.
OpenAI, the reporting said, has maintained that there were no assurances that Musk would eventually relinquish a board majority, and it has rejected the allegations in Musk’s civil lawsuit, arguing there were never promises OpenAI would remain a nonprofit forever.
MSI previously reported on Elon Musk taking the witness stand as the trial against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman began here.