A federal trial in Oakland, California pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has kept concerns about artificial intelligence’s dangers to humanity at the forefront, even as the presiding judge has repeatedly warned lawyers to stay focused on the legal dispute at hand. The trial began in early May 2026.
Musk filed the case accusing Altman and OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman of betraying a founding promise to keep OpenAI as a nonprofit. Altman, who had not yet testified as of this report, counters that Musk is attempting to undermine the ChatGPT maker to benefit his own AI company, xAI, which launched in 2023 and has since merged with SpaceX.
The trial centers on OpenAI’s 2015 founding as a nonprofit, primarily funded by Musk. Both sides claim they sought to develop artificial general intelligence — AI that surpasses humans across many tasks — for the benefit of humanity rather than any single individual. Both sides also allege the other was seeking unilateral control.
Musk testified that he has “extreme concerns” about AI and deliberately chose the nonprofit structure “for the public good.” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers expressed skepticism, noting that Musk “despite these risks, is creating a company that is in the exact same space.”
Musk’s legal team called AI pioneer and UC Berkeley computer scientist Stuart Russell as an expert witness, at $5,000 an hour. Russell warned that whichever company develops AGI first would gain an outsized and compounding advantage over all others, and listed a range of AI risks including job displacement, misinformation, and psychological harm from AI chatbot relationships.
Brockman testified that Musk ultimately sought personal control over OpenAI, recalling a meeting where Musk said “people needed to know he was in charge.” A nine-person jury drawn from the San Francisco Bay Area will decide whose account is credible.
Beyond damages, Musk is seeking Altman’s removal from OpenAI’s board. A ruling in Musk’s favor could disrupt OpenAI’s plans for a public stock offering.
Source: mint – technology