Elon Musk's Conduct at OpenAI Demonstrated Desire for Control: Lawyer's Testimony at Trial

High-Stakes Trial Over OpenAI's Future Gets Underway in California

A high-stakes trial over the future of OpenAI began on Tuesday in Oakland, California, with lawyers disputing whether Elon Musk was committed to ensuring that artificial intelligence be used to benefit society or instead viewed the Silicon Valley company as a vehicle to amass power for himself.

Musk, the world's richest person, is suing OpenAI, its Chief Executive Sam Altman, and its President Greg Brockman, saying they betrayed him and the public by abandoning the ChatGPT maker's mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for humanity, and transforming the nonprofit into a profit-seeking juggernaut. Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI's charitable arm.

OpenAI's Transformation from Nonprofit to For-Profit Entity

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According to Bill Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI and Altman, it was Musk who saw dollar signs as he helped finance OpenAI's early growth and pushed it to become a for-profit business, one he might eventually lead as CEO. Savitt said Musk wanted "the keys to the kingdom," and sued only after he failed and then started his own AI business, xAI in 2023.

OpenAI's lawyer framed OpenAI's March 2019 creation of a for-profit entity as critical to letting it buy computing power and pay top scientists to stay competitive with Google's DeepMind AI lab. In contrast, Musk's lawyer Steven Molo told jurors that it was the OpenAI defendants who wanted riches for themselves, as OpenAI began drawing investors including Microsoft.

Key Events in OpenAI's History

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Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google. However, the company's mission changed in March 2019 when it created a for-profit entity. In January 2023, Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI, which Musk's lawyer said violated every commitment made to the world.

Russell Cohen, a lawyer for Microsoft, said that company didn't do anything wrong. "Microsoft has been a responsible partner every step of the way," Cohen said in his opening statement.

Potential IPO and Competition from Rivals

OpenAI faces growing competition from rivals including Anthropic, and is spending billions on computational resources. A potential IPO could value the company at $1 trillion, Reuters has reported. Musk's xAI trails far behind OpenAI in usage, and he has folded that business into SpaceX, whose own potential IPO this year could be the largest ever.

In a recent overhaul, OpenAI became a public benefit corporation, in which the nonprofit and other investors including Microsoft hold stakes. The nonprofit holds a 26% stake, plus warrants if OpenAI hits certain valuation targets. This structure could make OpenAI more investor-friendly while retaining its charitable origins.