Musk accuses OpenAI lawyer of trying to 'trick' him in combative testimony

Elon Musk delivered combative testimony in a California federal court, accusing OpenAI's legal team of using 'trick' questions to derail his multi-billion dollar lawsuit against the company. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before a public falling out in 2018, alleges that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman misled him into providing hundreds of millions in initial capital by promising the entity would remain a non-profit. The trial is exploring the internal documents and communications that led to OpenAI's pivot toward its current for-profit model backed by Microsoft.

During his second day on the stand, Musk emphasized that he chose to create OpenAI for the public benefit, noting that he has many other for-profit ventures. OpenAI's defense team has characterized the suit as a manifestation of 'jealousy and regret' from a competitor who failed to maintain control over the company. The testimony revealed new details about the early tensions between Musk and the current leadership, highlighting a fundamental disagreement over whether the path to safe Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) can be achieved through a corporate structure or must remain open-source.