--- title: Musk v. Altman trial starts Monday over OpenAI's... description: Week one of the Musk v. Altman federal trial in Oakland covered jury selection and opening testimony. Musk, the first witness, framed the lawsuit as a defense... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/musk-v-altman-trial-starts-monday-over-openai-s-nonprofit-to-profit-conversion-r7j6nl1gr twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Musk v. Altman trial starts Monday over OpenAI's nonprofit-to-profit conversion | daily.dev og:description: Week one of the Musk v. Altman federal trial in Oakland covered jury selection and opening testimony. Musk, the first witness, framed the lawsuit as a defense... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/musk-v-altman-trial-starts-monday-over-openai-s-nonprofit-to-profit-conversion-r7j6nl1gr og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/r7J6Nl1Gr.png og:image:alt: Musk v. Altman trial starts Monday over OpenAI's nonprofit-to-profit conversion og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Musk v. Altman trial starts Monday over OpenAI's nonprofit-to-profit conversion **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Week one of the Musk v. Altman federal trial in Oakland covered jury selection and opening testimony. Musk, the first witness, framed the lawsuit as a defense of charitable giving, claiming he co-founded OpenAI as a safety-focused nonprofit after a falling out with Google's Larry Page. OpenAI countered that Musk supported a for-profit structure as long as he controlled it, and quit after being denied a merger with Tesla. Key evidence includes Greg Brockman's diary entries calling the nonprofit commitment 'a lie,' and a pre-trial text from Musk warning Brockman and Altman they'd be 'the most hated men in America.' Musk also admitted donating $38M rather than the $100M he had claimed, and that xAI partly distills OpenAI models to train Grok. The advisory jury verdict will be followed by a binding ruling from Judge Gonzalez Rogers expected by mid-May. If Musk wins, OpenAI could be forced to unwind its for-profit conversion, threatening its planned IPO and over $200 billion in investments. ## Content ## The basics Jury selection began in late April in Oakland federal court for Musk v. Altman, a federal trial over OpenAI's conversion from nonprofit to for-profit. Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and donated $38 million to it — not the $100 million he had previously claimed publicly, a discrepancy that came out under cross-examination. He is suing Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI on two counts: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust. Musk is seeking up to $150 billion in damages (directed to OpenAI's nonprofit arm, not to himself), the removal of Altman and Brockman, and a court order forcing OpenAI to unwind its for-profit conversion. The nine-person jury's verdict is advisory only — Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will make the final call on both liability and remedies, with a ruling expected by mid-May. ## What Musk says happened Musk took the stand as the first witness, framing the lawsuit as a defense of charitable giving rather than a personal grievance. He testified that he co-founded OpenAI specifically because of a falling out with Google's Larry Page over AI safety. According to Musk, Page dismissed the risk of AI wiping out humanity as acceptable as long as AI itself survived, and called Musk a "speciest" for being pro-human. That conversation, Musk said, convinced him to start a safety-focused nonprofit alternative. He recruited Google AI researcher Ilya Sutskever to help launch OpenAI in 2015, effectively ending his friendship with Page. On the stand, Musk described three phases of trust erosion: early doubts, growing concerns about the direction of the organization, and a final break when he learned about Microsoft's $10 billion investment. He called himself "a fool" for funding the organization while it grew into an $800 billion for-profit entity. ## What OpenAI says happened OpenAI's lead attorney William Savitt offered a different account: Musk supported a for-profit structure all along, as long as he was in control of it. In 2017, Musk pushed to merge OpenAI with Tesla and lead the combined entity himself. When the other founders refused, he became angry, grabbed a painting that had been gifted to him, and walked out. He resigned from the board in February 2018. Savitt also presented emails showing Musk actively poached OpenAI employees for Tesla and Neuralink while still on the board. The core of OpenAI's defense is straightforward: Musk quit, predicted the company would fail, then sued when it succeeded without him. ## The Brockman journals The most damaging piece of evidence against OpenAI isn't from Musk's side — it's from Greg Brockman's own diary. Brockman wrote in 2017 that the nonprofit commitment was "a lie" and noted personal wealth goals including aspirations to $1 billion. Judge Gonzalez Rogers cited these entries when she denied OpenAI's motion to dismiss, finding "ample evidence" to proceed. Brockman testified for two days. He argued that the nonprofit now holds over $150 billion in equity value and that Musk fundamentally misunderstood AI development. His lawyers will argue the journal entries were private reflection, not evidence of premeditated deception. Whether jurors see it that way is one of the central questions of the trial. Two days before the trial began, Musk texted Brockman proposing a settlement. Brockman counter-proposed that both sides drop their suits. Musk responded: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America." The judge ruled the exchange inadmissible, but OpenAI filed it anyway to establish the narrative that this lawsuit is competitive harassment, not principled advocacy. ## The awkward moments from week one Musk's first week on the stand had some rough patches. He admitted under oath that Tesla is not currently pursuing AGI, contradicting tweets he had posted weeks earlier. He acknowledged donating $38 million rather than the $100 million he had claimed. He admitted that xAI "partly" distills OpenAI's models to train Grok — a practice OpenAI has publicly condemned when done by competitors like DeepSeek. Musk called it standard industry practice. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have reportedly formed an initiative specifically to combat it. There was also a text message exchange between Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, apparently coordinating to block OpenAI's restructuring. The judge pushed back on Musk's AI safety arguments as outside the trial's scope. Musk's fraud claims were dismissed before trial, narrowing the case to charitable trust and contract obligations. Statute-of-limitations challenges remain a live issue. ## What's at stake If the judge rules for Musk, OpenAI could be forced to unwind its October 2025 for-profit conversion. That would threaten its planned IPO at a potential $1 trillion valuation and call into question over $200 billion in investments from Microsoft, Amazon, SoftBank, and Nvidia. It would also set a precedent for how nonprofit-originated AI companies can restructure — a question that matters well beyond this one case. OpenAI's expert witness Stuart Russell testified about AI risks including cybersecurity threats and winner-take-all AGI dynamics, though the judge limited his broader existential risk arguments following OpenAI objections. Upcoming testimony includes Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Mira Murati, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Musk v. Altman week 3: Musk and Altman traded blows over each other’s credibility. Now the jury will pick a side.](https://daily.dev/posts/musk-v-altman-week-3-musk-and-altman-traded-blows-over-each-other-s-credibility-now-the-jury-will-nifjz6zep) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#openai](https://daily.dev/tags/openai) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/musk-v-altman-trial-starts-monday-over-openai-s-nonprofit-to-profit-conversion-r7j6nl1gr) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Musk v. 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