Dressed up in his signature black suit and tie, Elon Musk began the proceedings of the landmark lawsuit on Day 2, kicking off a five-hour testimony on the witness stand. The lawsuit against OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, saw another courtroom session involving sharper exchanges between Musk and OpenAI lawyers, facing US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
The gist of the second day, courtesy of Michelle Kim, an AI reporter, was all about Musk defending his foundational role in OpenAI, accusing its current leaders of transitioning to a profit-driven entity, betraying the original mission for safe AI for humanity as a non-profit entity.
“Could have absolutely created OpenAI as a for-profit company”
Musk began the day by reiterating that he could have “absolutely” created OpenAI as a profit-driven company if he wanted to. Musk shed light on his other companies, which he created from the perspective of profits. But “I deliberately chose to create a nonprofit for public good,” he says.
Musk then went on to confirm that he had sought a majority control of OpenAI during its early days by up to 51 per cent, “but as soon as we raise additional funding, that would dilute my percentage,” he stated. He went on to say that controlling the company wouldn’t have been his priority in a year or two after that. Musk also clarified that he never wanted absolute control over OpenAI.
Musk wanted to “provide almost all the money”
Elon’s desire for having majority stakes in OpenAI was attributed to the fact that he wanted to ensure the company “would go in the right direction”. He also confirmed that he wanted to provide all the money OpenAI would need in its early days. Musk compared this to his early days at Tesla, where he confirmed having majority control in the early days and later diluted his shares down to just 15 per cent.
“This is standard practice, if you’re both cofounder and providing almost all the money,” he added.
“I was a fool who provided free funding”: Musk
Musk also stated that he had a sent an email to Altman and Brockman in 0217, asking them to either continue with OpenAI as a non-profit or “go do something on your own”. At the time, both of them assured Musk that they were committed to keeping the company a nonprofit, while planning to pivot to a for-profit.
“I was a fool who provided free funding” for Altman and Brockman to start a startup, Elon added.
“I was a little unsettled, but I took their reassurances that OpenAI would be a nonprofit at face value,” said Musk, adding, “I was foolish enough to believe them.”
Musk also admitted to continued donation of $5 million quarterly to the company and even paid the office rent until 2020, stating, “I gave OpenAI a $3 million a year building.”
What else did Musk testify
Elon also pushed back strongly on the Microsoft investment, saying he “reacted quite negatively” because a $10 billion-scale deal could never be purely charitable. “Do you really want Microsoft controlling digital superintelligence?” he asked rhetorically. He also clarified his personal relationship with Shivon Zilis – a former OpenAI board member and the mother of four of his children – and confirmed emails between them regarding OpenAI matters were read into the record.
Musk maintained that he was fine with a small C-corp supporting the nonprofit “as long as the tail doesn’t wag the dog.” He insisted the for-profit entity has now become the “main thing,” which he views as a betrayal. He also said he only realised the full “theft” of the charity occurred much later, in 2023, which is why he filed the lawsuit in 2024, dismissing statute of limitations arguments. He dismissed claims that the suit was meant to benefit his own AI firm, xAI, noting that xAI has a “very small market share” compared to OpenAI, even as Grok continues to catch up with ChatGPT.
Musk reveals why he left the OpenAI board
Throughout the trial, Musk admitted that one of the reasons he left the OpenAI board was that he felt he’d be competing for the same talent with Tesla. Tesla is presently in the business of building advanced robots, with the Optimus bot relying on advanced AI to deliver on its promises. Musk also clarified that he wasn’t trying to build a counterweight to Google with Tesla.
“Biggest risk is AI killing us all”: Musk
The OpenAI lawyers pushed Musk to admit that Grok lags behind ChatGPT in terms of processing capabilities. “Not anymore, replied Musk, assuring the lawyers that it’s catching up.
Elon also shares that he had raised AI safety and regulation as an issue to President Trump in 2026. He also confirms doing the same with President Obama in 2015. When the OpenAI lawyers asked what he believed to be the biggest risk of AI, Musk said, “The biggest would be that AI kills us all.”