Don't 'Loot a Charity': Musk Takes Stand Against OpenAI

The legal clash across the bay from San Francisco is widely seen as a battle of egos pitting the world's richest person against a startup Musk once backed and now trails in the booming AI sector.

At the heart of the case is Musk's accusation that Altman drove OpenAI to become a profit-seeking juggernaut looking to dethrone the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, and betraying its nonprofit mission.

"If a verdict comes up that effectively makes it okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed — that's my concern," Musk said on the stand after being called as the trial's first witness.

Musk traced his interest in OpenAI to a belief that Google did not care about AI safety as it blazed ahead with the technology.

He told the court he backed the project in the spirit of it being a nonprofit endeavor that made the good of society the top priority, with any technology developed made open source.

The legal clash across the bay from San Francisco is widely seen as a battle of egos pitting the world's richest person against a startup Musk once backed and now trails in the booming AI sector.

At the heart of the case is Musk's accusation that Altman drove OpenAI to become a profit-seeking juggernaut looking to dethrone the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft, and betraying its nonprofit mission.

"If a verdict comes up that effectively makes it okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed — that's my concern," Musk said on the stand after being called as the trial's first witness.

Musk traced his interest in OpenAI to a belief that Google did not care about AI safety as it blazed ahead with the technology.

He told the court he backed the project in the spirit of it being a nonprofit endeavor that made the good of society the top priority, with any technology developed made open source. 

William Savitt, the lead attorney for OpenAI, said in opening remarks that the company had no choice but to open up to outside investors given the high costs of AI and that, in any case, the OpenAI nonprofit arm "remains in control of the organization."

Savitt added that a bitter Musk "will do anything he can to attack OpenAI" out of regret for having left the project

Since his exit, OpenAI has become an AI superpower valued at $852 billion and is preparing for a high-profile IPO on the back of its ChatGPT chatbot, which took the world by storm in 2022.

Musk eventually set up his own lab, xAI, which he merged into SpaceX in February. SpaceX itself is valued at $1.25 trillion, and its IPO, expected in June, could become the biggest in history.

'Scam Altman'

Moments ahead of opening statements, Musk and Altman, who both sat with their lawyers at the federal court in Oakland, were asked by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to keep social media posts to a minimum during the trial.

In a barrage of posts Monday amplified on the X platform he owns, Musk derisively called the OpenAI chief "Scam Altman."

Judge Gonzalez Rogers will decide by late May — guided by the advisory jury's findings — whether OpenAI broke a promise to Musk, or just smartly rode the technology to glory.