Musk Testifies He Was a Fool Who Was Misled Over OpenAI

Elon Musk told a federal court on Wednesday that he now considers himself "a fool" for bankrolling OpenAI's early years, as his lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company and its leaders played out in a California courtroom. On the stand, Musk said he put roughly $38 million into what he believed was a nonprofit meant to advance AI for the public good, the Wall Street Journal reports, only to see it become "an $800 billion company." He has accused CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman of persuading him to donate tens of millions of dollars under charitable pretenses, later turning the organization into a for-profit operation. "They should not get rich off a nonprofit. That's not right," Musk testified Thursday, per CNBC.

OpenAI's legal team countered that Musk knew about, and backed, the shift to a for-profit structure but turned against the group when he was denied sole control. Attorney William Savitt pressed Musk on cross-examination, displaying a March post from Musk stating that Tesla aimed to build artificial general intelligence, after Musk had said in court that the electric vehicle maker wasn't pursuing AGI. Savitt also questioned whether Musk received tax benefits from his OpenAI contributions and whether he had ever come close to the $1 billion he had once pledged to donate, per the Journal. "I contributed my reputation," Musk replied. "These things all have value." Musk complained that the questioning was "designed to trick me."

The billionaire acknowledged that his newer startup, xAI, "is, at this point, technically competitive but much smaller than OpenAI." Musk is asking the court to remove Altman and Brockman from leadership, unwind OpenAI's for-profit arrangement, and direct more than $180 billion in damages from the for-profit arm to the nonprofit parent. Altman and Brockman attended the proceedings in Oakland, taking notes as Musk testified. Cross-examination of Musk is to resume Thursday.