“Left for Dead”: Altman Says Musk Walked Away From OpenAI — Not the Other Way Around

TLDR

• Sam Altman testified for ~4 hours in the Musk v. Altman federal trial in Oakland, California
• Altman said Musk abandoned OpenAI, not that his charity was stolen from him
• Musk wanted total majority control of OpenAI, which Altman said made him “extremely uncomfortable”
• Musk’s lawyer challenged Altman’s honesty, pressing him on past accusations of deception
• Closing arguments are set for Thursday; the jury’s verdict is advisory only

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the stand Tuesday in the federal trial brought by Elon Musk, pushing back hard on Musk’s core claim that Altman and other executives betrayed OpenAI’s nonprofit mission.

Altman testified for about four hours at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California. His central argument was straightforward: Musk didn’t have his charity stolen — he abandoned it.

The trial stems from a 2024 lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman. Musk claims the three steered the company away from its original nonprofit structure. He also claims the roughly $38 million he donated was used for commercial purposes he never approved.

Altman testified he made no promises to Musk about keeping OpenAI a nonprofit. He said the two simply disagreed on direction, and that Musk eventually lost faith in the company entirely.

Musk’s Push for Control

Much of Altman’s testimony focused on Musk’s demand for majority control over any for-profit version of OpenAI. Altman said Musk insisted on holding the reins and only vaguely suggested his ownership share might shrink over time.

He also described a moment that he called “hair-raising.” When co-founders asked Musk what would happen to OpenAI if Musk died while in control, Musk reportedly shrugged and suggested his children might inherit it.

Altman said OpenAI was founded on the belief that no single person should control artificial general intelligence. That made Musk’s position a non-starter for him.

Musk did propose merging OpenAI with Tesla during negotiations. Altman rejected it, saying Tesla is a car company and could not carry out OpenAI’s mission.

Altman’s Credibility Challenged

Molo pressed Altman on past accusations from former colleagues, including Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, and referenced testimony from former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who said Monday he had gathered evidence of what he described as a pattern of deception by Altman.

Altman also addressed his brief removal as CEO in 2023. He called it an “incredible betrayal” and said the board gave him little explanation beyond saying he had not been candid with them.

OpenAI is now valued at over $850 billion by private investors. Musk is seeking to have Altman and Brockman removed and wants more than $130 billion redirected to OpenAI’s nonprofit foundation. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. The jury’s verdict is advisory, with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers making the final call.

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