Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAI

Sam Altman and Elon Musk are set to face off in a high-stakes trial that could alter the future of tech’s leading AI startup, OpenAI. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission of developing AI to benefit humanity and shifting focus to boosting profits instead. The trial began with jury selection on April 27th. Today, Elon Musk has arrived at the courthouse for the opening arguments and may appear as a witness.

Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAI

Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI and claims that Altman and cofounder Greg Brockman tricked him into giving the company money, only to turn their backs on their original goal. However, OpenAI says that “This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor” in a bid to boost Musk’s own SpaceX / xAI / X companies that have launched Grok as a competitor to ChatGPT.

In his lawsuit, Musk is asking for the removal of Altman and Brockman, and for OpenAI to stop operating as a public benefit corporation. Musk has also demanded that OpenAI’s nonprofit receive up to $150 billion in damages he’s asking for if he wins the case.

Here’s all the latest on the trial between Musk and Altman:

• Sam Altman’s “related party conflicted transactions” are how he made money on OpenAI, Molo says.
• Technical difficulties. Molo’s mike just cut out. YGR: “What can we tell you, we’re funded by the federal government.” It was reset and cut out again, “Is this a Microsoft product?” Molo asks.
• OpenAI is like a museum store that has looted the Picassos and pocketed the profits. The point at which Musk’s lawyer says the change occurred was the third Microsoft deal on Oct. 20th, 2022. That is when OpenAI was no longer for the good of humanity, and also when Musk hired a lawyer.
• AGI might be out of fashion in the AI world, but it will be at the center of this trial. Musk’s lawyer, Molo, says that Musk is concerned about what happens when computers are smarter than people, and that there are people who think that’s not too far away. He says that’s artificial general intelligence, and we’ll be hearing about it a lot.
• “The defendants in this case stole a charity.” Steven Molo, Musk’s lawyer, is giving an opening statement in Altman v. Musk. The case isn’t about Musk, he says. It’s about Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. After yesterday’s sentiments on Musk, Molo is making a point of asking jurors to put personal sentiments aside. Musk will be the first witness. The trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI is officially upon us. And it is going to be a mess. As the two sides fight over the early days of AI, who deserves credit and cash for what, and more, we’re likely to spend the next few weeks hearing a lot of important people’s secrets made extremely public. Which may be exactly what Musk is going for.

On Monday, the courtroom battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over alleged broken promises at OpenAI started, as usual, with jury selection. The only tricky part? A lot of the prospective jurors already have an opinion about Elon Musk, and it’s not a good one. Elon Musk’s lawyer tried to get some jurors thrown out for disliking Musk. YGR denied those challenges. “The reality is that people don’t like him,” she said. “Many people don’t like him. but that doesn’t mean that Americans nevertheless can’t have integrity for the judicial process.”

Elon Musk drops fraud claims against OpenAI and Sam Altman before trial. The federal judge overseeing the case granted Musk’s request on Friday, which he says will “streamline the case” and keep things focused on “ensuring that OpenAI adheres to its public charitable mission.” Two claims will proceed to trial this week.

Elon Musk cofounded OpenAI, and then flounced off in a huff when he wasn’t anointed CEO, leaving Sam Altman as the last power-hungry man standing. Now, Musk is back with a lawsuit, and a trial is scheduled to start in Oakland, California, on April 27th. Musk’s xAI, now a part of SpaceX, has filed for an initial public offering. OpenAI is rumored to be considering an IPO itself. There are only billions of dollars at stake.

Elon Musk is suing Apple and OpenAI over claims that their deal to build ChatGPT into the iPhone is stifling competition in the AI industry. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, the Musk-owned X Corp. and xAI also accuse Apple’s Apple Store of “deprioritizing” rival chatbots and “super” apps, including Grok and X. Musk’s companies claim that iPhone users “have no reason” to download third-party AI apps because the company “force[s]” users to use ChatGPT as their default chatbot app when enabling Apple Intelligence.