OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared in court this morning, providing his defense against a lawsuit filed by co-founder Elon Musk, which challenges the fundamental corporate structure of OpenAI.
Immediately, Altman was questioned regarding Musk’s accusation that other OpenAI founders had “stolen a charity” by establishing a for-profit subsidiary to commercialize products derived from the company’s advanced AI models.
Following a brief pause, Altman responded, “It feels difficult to even wrap my head around that framing. We created one of the largest charities in the world. This foundation is doing incredible work and will do much more.”
Musk’s legal team has highlighted that OpenAI’s foundation, which now boasts assets approaching $200 billion, did not employ full-time staff until earlier this year. OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor testified today, explaining this was due to the complexities of converting OpenAI equity into cash, a process successfully completed with the organization’s most recent restructuring in 2025.
A core contention from Musk’s attorneys is whether the company’s dedication to safety was compromised as its commercial influence expanded. However, Altman countered that in 2017, during a critical period when founders were determining how to secure funding for their AI models, Musk’s “specific plans on safety made me worry.”
Altman recounted a “particularly hair-raising moment” from the discussions, where Musk was asked about the succession plan if he were to die while controlling a hypothetical OpenAI for-profit entity. According to Altman, Musk’s reply was, “Maybe OpenAI should pass to my children.”
Altman stated that Musk’s intense focus on controlling the initial for-profit venture was a concern, given OpenAI’s commitment to ensuring advanced AI did not fall under the sole control of any single individual. Drawing from his experience leading the prominent startup accelerator Y Combinator, Altman noted that “founders who had control usually did not give it up.”
Furthermore, Altman testified that Musk’s managerial approach, perhaps effective in engineering and manufacturing sectors, proved unsuitable for OpenAI’s environment.
“I don't think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab,” Altman asserted. “He had demotivated some of our most key researchers. He had at one point required Greg and Ilya to make a list of the researchers and list out their accomplishments and stack rank them and take a chainsaw through a bunch. That did huge damage for a long time to the culture of the organization.”
Altman positioned himself as a defender of the "sweat equity" contributed by co-founders Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever, who were effectively managing OpenAI’s operations at a time when both Musk and Altman held other professional commitments.
Following the unresolved disagreements, Musk eventually departed from OpenAI’s board and subsequently launched competing AI initiatives at Tesla and his own AI startup, xAI. Despite this, Altman maintained communication with the dynamic entrepreneur, providing updates on OpenAI’s progress and seeking his financial support and counsel.
OpenAI’s legal representatives highlighted that Musk was consistently kept informed and invited to participate in the very investments that his current lawsuits now allege corrupted the non-profit entity.
Recalling a discussion in 2018 concerning a Microsoft investment in OpenAI, Altman described it as "unlike a lot of meetings with Mr. Musk, this was a good vibes meeting," where Musk engaged in a "long conversation showing us memes on his phone."
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