Elon Musk took the witness stand in an Oakland federal courtroom on Tuesday, telling jurors in blunt terms that Sam Altman and OpenAI's other leaders had betrayed the charitable mission of the company he helped fund a decade ago. "It is not okay to steal a charity, that's my view," Musk testified, according to multiple reports from inside the courtroom.
The testimony came on the first full day of trial after jury selection wrapped Monday. Musk's attorney Steven Molo opened the case with an unambiguous framing for the jurors: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today because the defendants in this case stole a charity."
Musk's Version of OpenAI's Founding
On the stand, Musk recounted what he said was his central role in launching OpenAI in 2015. "I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything I know, provided all the initial funding," he testified. He told the court the original purpose was to build a nonprofit counterweight to Google's growing AI dominance — a project he said grew out of a personal falling-out with Google co-founder Larry Page, who Musk claimed dismissed his concerns about AI safety by calling him a "speciesist."
Musk also framed the case as bigger than OpenAI, warning that "if we make it okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed."
OpenAI's Defense
OpenAI's lead trial counsel, William Savitt, pushed back hard in his own opening statement. "We are here because Mr. Musk didn't get his way at OpenAI," Savitt told the jury. "He quit, saying they would fail for sure. But my clients had the nerve to go on and succeed without him." The company's lawyers cast Musk as a competitor — he runs rival lab xAI — using litigation to wound a former partner.
What Musk Wants
Musk is asking the court to unwind OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit structure, to force Altman, President Greg Brockman and Microsoft to disgorge what he calls "ill-gotten gains," and to remove Altman from the nonprofit board as well as ouster him and Brockman as officers of the for-profit entity.
Why It Matters
The case is one of the most consequential corporate-governance trials the AI industry has ever faced. A ruling for Musk could force a partial unwinding of the structure that underpins OpenAI's commercial relationships — including its multi-year, multi-billion-dollar arrangement with Microsoft — and rattle every AI lab that has restructured a nonprofit parent to chase capital. A verdict for OpenAI would effectively bless the nonprofit-to-PBC playbook now being copied across the industry.
Musk is expected to continue testifying Wednesday.
