Elon Musk took the stand in a federal court in Oakland this week, facing off against Sam Altman in what could be a landmark case for the AI industry. Musk is suing OpenAI to reverse its transition from a nonprofit research lab to a for-profit entity, and he is pushing for the removal of Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman. His testimony, spanning more than seven hours over three days, painted a picture of regret and betrayal.
"I was a fool who provided them free funding to create a startup. I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding, which they then used to create what would become an $800 billion company," Musk said, according to court reports. He emphasized that OpenAI was "specifically meant to be for a charity that does not benefit any individual person. I could've started it as a for-profit and I specifically chose not to."
Musk claimed that OpenAI would not exist without his involvement: "I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything I know, provided all of the initial funding." He also revealed that he poached researcher Ilya Sutskever from Google, which led to a falling out with Larry Page.
During cross-examination, OpenAI's lawyer William Savitt pressed Musk on his motives, arguing that he only acted after ChatGPT became a success. Savitt cited emails showing Musk had previously supported a for-profit structure and even a Tesla takeover. Musk snapped back: "Your questions are not simple. They're designed to trick me," adding that "few answers are going to be complete especially when you cut me off all the time."
Musk also warned of existential risks from AI, referencing a "Terminator" scenario where AI could "kill us all." However, the judge later barred further discussion of such existential threats.
In a notable admission, Musk acknowledged that his AI company xAI "partly" distills OpenAI's models, calling it "standard practice to use other AIs to validate your AI." The extent of this practice remains unclear.
The trial's outcome could jeopardize OpenAI's planned IPO. Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella are expected to testify next week.