Musk's OpenAI Trial: Friendship on the Stand

Among the most compelling disclosures from Elon Musk's recent testimony in his lawsuit against OpenAI, the focus shifted away from his anticipated claims of misappropriated charity. Instead, a more personal revelation came to light concerning his fractured relationship with an old friend.

Musk testified that a fundamental motivation for co-founding OpenAI was a significant disagreement with Google co-founder Larry Page regarding AI safety. He recounted a specific conversation where he raised the alarming possibility of AI leading to humanity's extinction, a concern Page reportedly brushed off as "fine," so long as the AI itself survived. Page allegedly labeled Musk a "speciest" for his "pro human" perspective, an attitude Musk characterized as "insane."

This account is particularly noteworthy considering the profound closeness the two tech leaders once shared. Fortune magazine included them on its 2016 list of secretly best-friend business leaders, and Musk was sufficiently comfortable with Page to regularly stay at his Palo Alto home. Page himself once conveyed to Charlie Rose that he would rather give his money to Musk than to a charitable organization.

However, this deep friendship did not withstand the genesis of OpenAI. In 2015, when Musk successfully recruited Google's prominent AI researcher, Ilya Sutskever, to help launch the new company, Page reportedly felt personally betrayed and subsequently ceased all contact.

While Musk has shared this story before – including with author Walter Isaacson for his bestselling biography – Tuesday marked the first occasion he presented it under oath. Page has not yet issued a public statement, and it's important to remember that Musk's testimony was delivered within the framework of an ongoing lawsuit. Despite the estrangement, as recently as 2023, Musk expressed a desire for reconciliation during an interview with tech podcaster Lex Fridman, stating, "We were friends for a very long long time."