On the stand, Elon Musk can’t escape his own tweets
Source: TechCrunch
Elon Musk appeared in a California federal court on Wednesday to argue that Sam Altman and the other OpenAI co‑founders “stole a charity.” Under oath, Musk admitted that Tesla is not currently pursuing artificial general intelligence (AGI), directly contradicting a tweet he posted weeks earlier.
The lawsuit challenges OpenAI’s corporate structure, alleging that Altman and the co‑founders tricked Musk into backing a nonprofit, then launched the for‑profit arm of the frontier lab and allowed it to dominate the organization.
Background
- Musk claims that when he co‑founded OpenAI with Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman and others, he trusted them to build AI for humanity. Over time, he grew suspicious of their motives and concluded they were “looting the nonprofit.”
- OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt attempted to show that Musk had previously supported efforts to transition OpenAI toward a for‑profit status to raise funds needed to compete with companies like Google, including incorporating the AI lab into Tesla.
Testimony Highlights
Musk’s Statements on AGI
- Musk testified that Tesla’s AI work is focused only on self‑driving and not on AGI.
- When asked about a recent X post claiming “Tesla will be one of the companies to make AGI,” he responded, “We are not pursuing AGI right now.”
Investment Discrepancies
- Musk was questioned about a post in which he claimed to have invested $100 million in OpenAI, whereas the actual amount transferred was $38 million.
- He argued that his reputation and network compensated for the disparity.
Hiring and Poaching Allegations
- Savitt presented emails showing Musk backing efforts by Tesla and Neuralink to poach OpenAI employees while he was still on OpenAI’s board.
- Musk discussed attempts to hire OpenAI leaders after leaving the board in 2018, including Andrej Karpathy, who moved to lead self‑driving work at Tesla.
- A conversation in which Shivon Zillis suggested Musk recruit Ilya Sutskever to Tesla was also raised.
Safety Concerns
- A key part of Musk’s case is that converting OpenAI into a traditional corporation could endanger society by reducing focus on safety.
- Savitt had Musk acknowledge that all AI companies, including his own, face safety risks.
- Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers halted that line of questioning but indicated it could resume with limits.
- When Musk’s lawyers raised the Tumbler Ridge shooting—an incident in Canada where a shooter engaged extensively with ChatGPT—Judge Rogers clarified she did not want to hear about AI‑related scandals, but that safety approaches of xAI and OpenAI were fair game.
Upcoming Testimony
Musk is scheduled to return on Thursday for another round of adversarial questioning. Expected witnesses include:
- Jared Birchall, manager of Musk’s family office
- Stuart Russell, AI safety expert
- Greg Brockman, OpenAI president
Correction
An earlier version of this story misstated details of the Tumbler Ridge shooting due to an editing error. The article has been updated.