OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday rejected Elon Musk’s claim that he betrayed the ChatGPT maker’s founding mission to serve the public good, saying it was Musk who was interested in taking control of OpenAI and making money from it.
In an August 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused Altman and OpenAI of persuading him to donate $38 million, only to watch the nonprofit abandon its mission to benefit humanity and become a for-profit corporation.
The trial, now in its third week, may determine the future of OpenAI and its leadership, as it prepares for a potential initial public offering that could value the business at $1 trillion.
Testifying in federal court in Oakland, California, Altman denied Musk’s claim that he and OpenAI president Greg Brockman, who is also accused, attempted to “rob a charity.”
Altman said that “it feels hard to even understand that framework” and that he hoped that “as OpenAI continues to do well, the nonprofit will do even better.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, is seeking to have OpenAI and Microsoft, a major investor, pay about $150 billion in damages to an OpenAI nonprofit.
He testified early in the trial and said, “If you have someone who is not trustworthy in charge of the AI, I think that is a very big danger to the entire world.” Musk also wants Altman and Brockman removed from their roles.
Altman opposed Musk’s bid for majority control
OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by several entrepreneurs, including Musk and Altman.
He has tried to show that Musk knew about the for-profit scheme before he left its board in 2018, but he wanted control of the company and is now suing because he regrets missing out on potential riches. OpenAI created a for-profit entity in March 2019.
When asked if Musk opposed the for-profit plan, Altman said “quite the opposite.”
He recalled that Musk once demanded a 90% stake in OpenAI and, although he later softened his stance, always sought majority control, an idea Altman was “extremely uncomfortable with.”
“I had quite a bit of experience with startups, I had seen a lot of fights for control,” he said, citing Musk’s SpaceX as an example where founders of well-performing companies consolidated their power to ensure permanent control.
Altman also said that while he and other OpenAI leaders wanted to get on Musk’s good side, he opposed a merger with Tesla, Musk’s electric car company.
“I don’t think we would have had the ability to ensure that (our) mission was accomplished,” he said. “Basically, Tesla needs to serve its customers and sell cars.”
The president of OpenAI, surprised by Musk’s takeover bid
The trial marks a clash between tech giants, with Musk presenting himself as a defender of ordinary people against the dangers of AI and Silicon Valley titans who care more about money.
It came after OpenAI raised hundreds of billions of dollars from big tech companies and investors to develop its computing power, ahead of a potential initial public offering (IPO).
Altman said Musk’s departure sparked mixed feelings within OpenAI. He said some were concerned it could make funding difficult, while others were relieved to be freed from Musk’s insistence that researchers regularly defend their work and advances.
“I don’t think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab,” Altman said. “It had demotivated some of our most important researchers.”
Bret Taylor, president of OpenAI, testified Tuesday that OpenAI received a formal acquisition offer from a consortium led by Musk’s rival company, xAI, in February 2025, six months after Musk filed a lawsuit.
“I was surprised,” Taylor said. “This proposal was to acquire this nonprofit organization by a group of for-profit investors, which seemed inconsistent with the spirit of the lawsuit.”
Reasons and guarantees are debated
Testimony in the trial before U.S. District Judge Yvonne González Rogers may conclude this week.
Juries could begin deliberating whether the defendants are responsible before May 18. Rogers would determine the solutions.
Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever testified Monday that he spent about a year gathering evidence for OpenAI directors that Altman had shown a “constant pattern of lying.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose company is a major investor in OpenAI, testified Monday that the investment was a “calculated risk.”
Others who have testified include Brockman, former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who is also the mother of four of Musk’s children.
