OAKLAND, April 29 — Billionaire Elon Musk took the stand Tuesday to accuse OpenAI and its boss Sam Altman of betraying the AI company’s altruistic origins, in a trial that could have far-reaching consequences for the industry and oblige the ChatGPT maker to profoundly revamp its business.

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 non-profit 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 non-profit endeavour that made the good of society the top priority, with any technology developed made open source.

“I didn’t want to pave the road to hell with good intentions,” Musk said of his vision for OpenAI. “I didn’t want to fund OpenAI to make safe AI and then find out that it was actually making unsafe AI.”

Musk also said he was instrumental in recruiting key hires, including Ilya Sutskver, a top AI engineer then at Google who went on to play a major role in driving new technology at the lab.

The world’s richest man said he also made initial contact with AI chip maker Nvidia and tech giant Microsoft to provide crucial technology, opening doors that would not have been available to OpenAI’s other co-founders, who were little known at the time.

A protester with Stop AI stands outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and US Courthouse as the Musk v. Altman trial begins in Oakland on April 27, 2026. — AFP pic

Anything to attack

Altman and Musk, along with a small group of others, co-founded OpenAI in 2015, promising a non-profit lab whose technology “would belong to the world.”

Musk, who will resume testimony Wednesday, invested at least US$38 million (RM150 million) before he left the project in 2018, and the OpenAI Foundation created its commercial subsidiary a year later.

Microsoft then began investing and increased its commitment to US$13 billion, a stake now valued at approximately US$135 billion.

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 non-profit 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 US$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 US$1.25 trillion, and its IPO, expected in June, could become the biggest in history.

An image depicting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is displayed outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland on April 27, 2026. — AFP pic

‘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.

Along with calling for OpenAI to be forced to revert to a pure non-profit, Musk’s suit urges the ouster of co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman, the startup’s president.

Musk, who has sought as much as US$134 billion in damages, has renounced any personal benefit, pledging to redirect any award to the OpenAI non-profit. — AFP

In theory, Musk and Altman’s court fight could pose key questions about AI safety – in reality, it’s motivated by money and personal grievance

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Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian, writing to you from beneath a cherry blossom tree in Prospect Park in New York City. Spring has arrived!

Facing AI and a tough job market, gen Z turns to entrepreneurship: ‘I have to prove myself’

OAKLAND, April ‌28 — A trial that could help shape the future of artificial intelligence begins today, with billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman at odds over the evolution of ChatGPT maker OpenAI from a nonprofit to a profit-seeking juggernaut worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Opening statements in Musk’s civil lawsuit against ‌OpenAI and Altman will take place in the Oakland, California, federal court, following the selection yesterday of nine jurors.

Musk claims that Altman and Greg Brockman, respectively OpenAI’s chief executive and president, betrayed him and the public by abandoning the company’s mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for the benefit of humanity, and turning it into a “wealth machine” for themselves and investors.

The world’s richest person is seeking US$150 billion (RM593 billion) in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI’s charitable arm.

He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, with Altman and Brockman removed as officers and Altman removed from its board.

Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, has said he provided about US$38 million of seed money to OpenAI for its original mission, only to see OpenAI create a for-profit entity in March 2019, a little over a year after he left its board.

OpenAI countered that Musk knew ‌about and supported the transformation, and sued only after failing to become CEO, and starting his own AI company to stunt its ⁠growth.

Musk is no longer seeking damages for himself as he pursues breach ⁠of charitable trust and unjust enrichment claims.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has ⁠said she wants jurors to begin deliberations on ⁠the defendants’ liability by May 12.

The ⁠jurors include nurses, city workers and retirees. If they find the defendants liable, both sides will argue possible remedies to the judge.

Musk, Altman and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella are among the witnesses expected to testify, with Musk taking the stand as soon as this week.

Egos and ⁠personalities

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google.

The trial could offer a window into some of the egos and personalities that shaped OpenAI as it evolved from a nonprofit research lab in Brockman’s apartment to a company worth more than $850 billion.

It risks complicating OpenAI’s plans for a potential initial public offering by casting doubt on its leadership, and could also intensify Americans’ fears about AI technology more broadly.

OpenAI has argued that Musk was motivated by ⁠jealousy in trying to undermine its growth and prop up his own xAI, which he founded in 2023 shortly after OpenAI launched ChatGPT.

It has said Musk was involved in discussions to create OpenAI’s new structure and demanded to ⁠be CEO.

Microsoft has denied having colluded with OpenAI and says it teamed up with OpenAI only after Musk left.

OpenAI faces growing competition from ⁠rivals including Anthropic, and ⁠is spending billions on computational resources. A potential IPO could value the company at US$1 trillion, Reuters has reported.

Musk’s xAI trails far behind OpenAI in usage. He has folded that business into his rocket company SpaceX, whose own potential IPO this year could be the largest ever.

Last fall, OpenAI overhauled its ‌structure again to become a public benefit corporation, in which the nonprofit and other investors including Microsoft hold stakes. The nonprofit holds a 26 per cent stake, plus warrants if OpenAI hits certain valuation targets.

A public benefit corporation could make OpenAI more investor-friendly while retaining its charitable origins. — Reuters

OAKLAND, April 28 — Elon Musk’s courtroom showdown with Sam Altman got underway here Monday with the selection of jurors entrusted to decide whether the co-founders of OpenAI betrayed a mission to build artificial intelligence for the good of humanity, not for money.

The legal clash in a courtroom across the bay from San Francisco pits Musk, the world’s richest person, against a startup he once backed and now competes with in the booming AI sector.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is a formidable rival to the chatbot Grok, made by Musk’s xAI lab.

“This is a tech soap opera that all investors will be watching,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

“There will be a lot of dirt and slings thrown around in court between Musk and Altman and that is not a good thing for anyone involved...but Musk has made this personal.”

Jurors were asked their thoughts of Musk and Altman, and whether they could put aside any bias while considering evidence at trial.

“Elon doesn’t care about people, much like our president,” said a US retiree being considered for the panel.

An Oakland city employee in the jury pool referred to Musk as “a jerk.”

“Brilliant engineer, brilliant businessman, but many of his actions were very harmful for the country,” a prospective juror who works for a climate tech company said of Musk.

In contrast, Altman’s name struck potential jurors as familiar but did not evoke strong opinion.

Musk’s lawsuit is part of a feud between him and OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman, but it also spotlights a debate about whether AI should ultimately serve to benefit a privileged few or society as a whole.

Court filings lay out how Altman convinced Musk to back OpenAI in 2015, acting as a co-founder for a non-profit lab whose technology “would belong to the world.”

Musk pumped millions of dollars into the lab, which he subsequently left.

However, OpenAI established a commercial subsidiary, as it needed hundreds of billions of dollars for data centers to power its technology.

Microsoft has poured billions of dollars into OpenAI and its CEO Satya Nadella is among those slated to testify at the trial.

Demonstrators protest outside the courthouse at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building as jury selection begins in the lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI in Oakland on April 27, 2026. — AFP pic

Benevolence or power?

Musk argues in his lawsuit that he was deceived about OpenAI’s mission being altruistic.

He fired off a social media post on Monday calling the OpenAI chief “Scam Altman.”

San Francisco-based OpenAI has countered in court filings that its break-up with Musk was due to his quest for absolute control rather than its non-profit status.

“This case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants,” OpenAI said in a recent X post. “His lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign that’s driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor.”

The startup noted that days after Musk entered the AI race in 2023 he called for a six-month moratorium on development of advanced AI.

The judge presiding over the trial will decide by late May – guided by an advisory jury’s findings – whether OpenAI broke a promise to Musk in a drive to lead in AI, or just smartly rode the technology to market dominance.

Along with calling for OpenAI to be forced to revert to a pure non-profit, Musk’s suit urges the ouster of Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, who is the startup’s president.

Musk, who had sought as much as US$134 billion (RM529 billion) in damages, has since renounced any personal benefit, pledging to redirect any award to the OpenAI non-profit. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has reserved the right to determine any remedies herself.

OpenAI now has a hybrid governance structure giving its non-profit foundation control over a for-profit arm.

Musk, who gutted the trust and safety team at Twitter after buying the social media platform that he renamed X, faces the challenge of convincing a jury and a judge that the company behind ChatGPT was built on a lie. — AFP

Inequality today is worse than what the United States experienced during the Gilded Age at the end of the 19th century, says Joseph Stiglitz. “The wealthiest person in that era was Rockefeller. And his wealth really doesn’t compare to that of Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Jeff Bezos, and some of the new billionaires,” explains the economist, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001, in a phone interview. “Their political influence under Donald Trump is also unprecedented, with Musk being the clearest example.”

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Move creates conflict between state and administration as Trump seeks federal framework over states handling issue

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The US justice department said on Friday it had intervened in a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s xAI challenging a Colorado law aimed at regulating artificial intelligence systems.

In its intervention, the justice department said the law violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection guarantee by requiring companies to guard against unintended discriminatory effects while allowing some discrimination aimed at promoting diversity.

There are now 3,110 billionaires but analysis shows ‘deep structural acceleration’ in wealth creation around world

The number of billionaires in the world could reach nearly 4,000 by 2031, figures suggest, as the super-rich accumulate wealth at an accelerating rate.

There are now 3,110 billionaires globally, according to analysis by the estate agent Knight Frank. This is forecast to rise by 25% over the next five years, taking the total to 3,915.

Cursor is aSilicon Valley startup using AI to automate coding as Elon Musk’s firm seeks foothold in the AI market

SpaceX said it has secured an option to either acquire code-generation startup Cursor for $60bn later this year, or pay $10bn for their new partnership, as it pushes deeper into the lucrative market for AI developer tools.

Along with OpenAI and Anthropic, Cursor is one of several Silicon Valley startups that has drawn waves of developers by using artificial intelligence to automate coding, a business where AI companies have found early commercial traction.

A group of editors meets every Tuesday — computer in hand — to correct a blind spot of digital knowledge: the absence and bias with which the history of women is told on Wikipedia, the platform co-founded 25 years ago by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, in an internet age that today seems remote.

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