Sam Altman testifies in Musk v. OpenAI trial 2026
Key takeaways
- OpenAI counters that Musk was aware of the for-profit plan but sought control of the organization himself.
- The trial has drawn testimony from a number of current and former OpenAI executives, including OpenAI president Greg Brockman, former OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati, and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member.
- From the witness stand, Musk described OpenAI as originally his concept, one that he said executives ultimately steered away from his vision.
Sam Altman set testify in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Open AI Quartz · Bloomberg / Getty Images Cris Tolomia Tue, May 12, 2026 at 7:50 PM GMT+7 2 min read Open AI CEO Sam Altman is scheduled to take the witness stand Tuesday and Wednesday in Elon Musk's lawsuit against the company.
At the heart of the case is Musk's claim that he was induced to give $38 million to Open AI on the premise that it would serve a charitable mission, which he says the organization subsequently betrayed by restructuring itself as a for-profit company. OpenAI counters that Musk was aware of the for-profit plan but sought control of the organization himself.
Altman's appearance follows testimony Monday from former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who said he spent about a year gathering evidence for the OpenAI board that Altman had displayed a "consistent pattern of lying."