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Musk takes stand in lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI
Day 2: Musk v. Altman case started with opening statements and then went straight to the first witness, Elon Musk, who is suing OpenAI's co-founder Sam Altman and others, accusing them of breaching an agreement to keep OpenAI a non-profit, by changing OpenAI into a for-profit entity
OAKLAND, Calif. - Elon Musk took the stand for the second day Wednesday in the landmark trial that pits the world’s richest man against Sam Altman, a fellow OpenAI co-founder he accuses of betraying promises to keep the company as a nonprofit dedicated to humanity’s benefit.
What is the Musk-Altman trial about?
The backstory:
The trial centers on the 2015 birth of the ChatGPT maker as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion. It started Monday and is expected to last about three weeks.
Musk, who invested about $38 million in OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017, gave his account of OpenAI’s early years, recounting how he lost confidence that Altman would keep it a nonprofit. Questioned by his lawyer Steven Molo, Musk said by late 2022 he was concerned he was trying to "steal the charity."
"It turned out to be true," Musk said on the witness stand, wearing his usual courtroom attire of a black suit and tie.
Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, was in attendance at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, although he was not scheduled to testify on Wednesday.
What is OpenAI saying?
Lawyers for OpenAI have rejected the allegations brought in Musk’s civil lawsuit and said there were never promises that the company would remain a nonprofit forever. The company has argued Musk’s legal challenge is aimed at undercutting OpenAI’s rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.
KTVU will be inside the courthouse in Oakland each day and will bring you live updates here.
Live Updates: Day 3
1:40 p.m.
Judge dismisses jury. Defense attorney indicated there would likely be an hour more of cross-examination for Musk and then Musk's attorney will be able to follow-up with questions.
1:30 p.m.
Following the second 20-minute break of the day, the attorney for Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI resumed questioning, with continued contentious exchanges between Musk and the attorney.
Musk said he had difficulty answering the "yes or no" questions, because he felt he needed to add context and tried multiple times to insert other comments. The defense attorney ended up repeatedly reading sections of Musk's previous deposition statements made under oath, so the jury could hear Musk's responses.
At the end of the Day 3 testimony, the defense attorney pressed Musk to identify whether OpenAI posed any greater safety risk than other AI companies, including Musk's own X-AI. During the exchanges, the attorney asked Musk:
Def. Attorney: "Do you think a for-profit AI company creates a safety risk?"
Musk: "Yes I think it creates a safety risk."
Def. Attorney: "Does X-AI suffer from that safety risk?"
Musk: "Yes."
Def. Attorney: "Do you know what a safety card is?"
Musk: "Why a card?"
Def. Attorney: "Have you ever looked at OpenAi's public documents website to see what it is doing with respect to safety?
Musk: "I don't think it has credibility."
1 p.m.
Musk's testimony continues with questioning now from Bill Savitt, defense attorney for Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI. The exchanges were often contentious, with Musk giving lengthy answers and judge instructing him to answer simple "yes or no." Musk said questions were not simple and tried to elaborate multiple times.
Musk's financial support:
The defense attorney Savitt began by raising questions about Musk's financial support of OpenAI. Savitt referenced deposition statements from September 2025, The defense attorney noted Musk cut off quarterly $5-million donations to OpenAi in May 2017, but in the 2023 tweet claimed that he had donated $100-million. The defense attorney read from the deposition:
Musk: "In strict monetary terms I contributed $38 million."
Def. atty: "So it wasn't true that you donated anywhere near $100-million to OpenAI?"
Musk: "I was mistaken."
The defense attorney also asked Musk about multiple emails where Musk discussed with OpenAI about creating a for-profit arm to raise money:
Musk: "As long as the for-profit is in service to the no-profit it is not breaking the promise."
Musk's emails discussing OpenAI becoming a for-profit arm
The defense attorney presented multiple email exhibits showing Musk corresponding with OpenAI about the need to raise more money and Musk's openness to a move to "for-profit" status.
Def. attorney: "In 2017 you started having discussions with the others about a potential for-profit structure?"
Musk: "I remember we had discussions."
At one point, during testimony, the defense attorney told Musk to answer questions simply.
Musk: "Your questions are not simple, they're designed to trick me."
Def. Attorney: "You're a bright guy. I'm asking you questions that have yes or no answers."
The judge later pressed Musk multiple times to answer "yes or no" to questions about whether Musk remembered being open to creating an OpenAI for-profit arm.
Musk replied, "Yes."
Musk's interest in bringing OpenAI and OpenAI staff to Tesla's AI team
The defense attorney also asked Musk about emails Musk wrote after he withdrew OpenAI funding in mid-2017. The exhibit emails indicated Musk wanted Tesla to acquire OpenAI in order to compete with Google.
Def Atty: "You proposed that OpenAi should attach itself to Tesla?"
Musk: "I'm not sure what you mean by attach."
The defense attorney pressed Musk on email exchanges where Musk said he lost confidence in OpenAI and wanted to rebuild AI within Tesla. The defense attorney noted that Musk stated in emails that he would actively try to "move people from OpenAI to Tesla" and asked one ally to stay active within OpenAI to "keep info flowing."
"Tesla is the only path to be a counterweight to Google," the defense attorney read from a Musk email exhibit.
11:30 a.m.
The third day of the Musk v. Altman trial began with Elon Musk returning to the witness stand. His attorney addresses defendants' accusations that Musk didn't bring a lawsuit until he had his own competing X-AI company. Musk testifies the reasons why he filed a lawsuit later:
Musk's attorney: "Why didn't you bring this lawsuit in 2018?"
Musk: "In 2018 they had not yet breached the charitable trust. Thinking someone might steal your car is not the same as someone stealing the car."
Musk's attorney: "Why didn't you bring this in 2020?"
Musk: "Same reason."
Musk's attorney: "Why did you only sue after the 2023 Microsoft deal was announced?"
Musk: "The nonprofit had been looted in 2023."
Musk: "My concern was Microsoft would own artificial generative intelligence that was developed by the charity."
The Source: The Associated Press, witness testimony.