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It’s hard to imagine now, but Elon Musk and Sam Altman were once happy co-workers. The power duo co-founded OpenAI in 2015 to build artificial intelligence safely. Now they’re facing off in a bitter $134 billion lawsuit that went to trial this week.
Here’s what the trial is all about: Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and sued the company, Altman and president Greg Brockman in 2024, alleging they broke their commitment to keep the AI lab a nonprofit. Musk claims he was “assiduously manipulated” and “deceived” by promises to “chart a safer, more open course than profit-driven tech giants.” He wants the judge to unwind OpenAI’s recent restructuring, which turned it into a nonprofit with a controlling stake in a for-profit business, and remove Altman and Brockman from their roles.
OpenAI calls the lawsuit “baseless and jealous.” Of Musk’s 26 original claims, only two remain: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust. The trial comes as Musk prepares to take SpaceX public in a record IPO and OpenAI gears up for its own public offering later this year.