Sam Altman took the stand in a federal courtroom in Oakland, telling a judge he is an "honest and trustworthy business person."
Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO seeks $130 billion in damages. The core allegation: OpenAI abandoned its founding nonprofit mission and became exactly the kind of profit-driven AI juggernaut it was created to prevent.
Altman argued that OpenAI's foundational principles were designed so no single person could exert control. Musk co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015 but left in 2018. Since then, the organization has transformed into a conventional tech giant.
OpenAI has been described in court as "the best-funded nonprofit in the history of mankind." Its current valuation exceeds $850 billion. The transition from a pure nonprofit to a capped-profit structure, and now toward a traditional corporate model, is the factual backbone of Musk's complaint.
Altman's defense: scaling AI safely requires enormous capital, and that requires structures that can attract investment.
If Musk prevails, it could force a restructuring of OpenAI, impacting Microsoft and every business building on OpenAI's models. The $130 billion figure is likely aspirational.