Musk vs. Altman Heads to Court, Putting OpenAI’s Origins Under the Microscope

FOX Business, CNN, BBC, the New York Times, Bloomberg, and Reuters contributed to this report.

The long-simmering feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman is finally heading to trial – and it could crack open the story behind one of the most influential AI companies on the planet.

Jury selection kicks off Monday in a federal court in Oakland, where Musk is taking on OpenAI and its leadership over what he says is a betrayal of the company’s original mission. At stake: more than $150 billion in damages, the future leadership of OpenAI, and a very public airing of Silicon Valley’s biggest AI power struggle.

Musk, who helped found OpenAI back in 2015 and pumped in tens of millions in early funding, argues the company lost its way. His lawsuit claims OpenAI abandoned its nonprofit roots when it created a for-profit arm in 2019 – turning a public-good mission into a money-making machine.

He wants CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman out. He also wants the company effectively reset, with any damages going back into OpenAI’s nonprofit side.

OpenAI isn’t backing down. The company says Musk himself once pushed for a for-profit structure and even floated merging OpenAI with Tesla before leaving in 2018 after failing to gain control. From their perspective, the lawsuit looks less like principle and more like rivalry – especially now that Musk is running his own AI outfit, xAI.

The case lands at a tense moment. OpenAI has grown into a central force in AI, thanks in part to its partnership with Microsoft and the breakout success of ChatGPT. It’s also reportedly eyeing an IPO. A loss in court could complicate all of that.

Inside the courtroom, expect a parade of big names. Musk. Altman. Brockman. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Even former insiders and close associates are likely to take the stand. The evidence pile is massive – emails, texts, internal debates – offering a rare look at how decisions were made during OpenAI’s transformation.

Finding jurors won’t be easy. Both Musk and Altman are household names in tech, and opinions about them run strong. The court has already expanded the jury pool to deal with that. Still, the bar isn’t ignorance – it’s impartiality.

Interestingly, the jury won’t have the final say on penalties. Their role is advisory. The judge will ultimately decide what happens if OpenAI is found liable.

Underneath the legal arguments is a bigger question hanging over the entire AI industry: can a company start with a mission to serve humanity and later pivot toward profit without crossing a line?

That’s the tension driving this case. And once the testimony starts, it’s likely to get messy.