OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the stand Tuesday in the federal trial brought by Elon Musk, pushing back hard on Musk’s core claim that Altman and other executives betrayed OpenAI’s nonprofit mission.
Under oath to the U.S. Senate, May 2023:
Altman: "I have no equity in OpenAI."
Today on the stand in federal court:
Musk's lawyer: "Were you under oath at that hearing?"
Altman: "Yes."Musk's lawyer: "And you didn't disclose to the Senate that you had an interest in OpenAI… pic.twitter.com/cH1g9h90wZ
— NIK (@ns123abc) May 12, 2026
Altman testified for about four hours at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California. His central argument was straightforward: Musk didn’t have his charity stolen — he abandoned it.
“We were kind of left for dead,” Altman told the court.
The trial stems from a 2024 lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman. Musk claims the three steered the company away from its original nonprofit structure. He also claims the roughly $38 million he donated was used for commercial purposes he never approved.
Altman testified he made no promises to Musk about keeping OpenAI a nonprofit. He said the two simply disagreed on direction, and that Musk eventually lost faith in the company entirely.
As evidence, Altman pointed to a December 2018 email from Musk that read: “My probability assessment of OpenAI being relevant to DeepMind/Google without a dramatic change in execution and resources is 0%. Not 1%.”
Altman said those words were “burned into my memory.”
Much of Altman’s testimony focused on Musk’s demand for majority control over any for-profit version of OpenAI. Altman said Musk insisted on holding the reins and only vaguely suggested his ownership share might shrink over time.
Altman said he did not believe that would actually happen. “My belief is he wanted to have long-term control,” Altman testified.
He also described a moment that he called “hair-raising.” When co-founders asked Musk what would happen to OpenAI if Musk died while in control, Musk reportedly shrugged and suggested his children might inherit it.
Altman said OpenAI was founded on the belief that no single person should control artificial general intelligence. That made Musk’s position a non-starter for him.
Musk did propose merging OpenAI with Tesla during negotiations. Altman rejected it, saying Tesla is a car company and could not carry out OpenAI’s mission.
Musk formally left OpenAI’s board in February 2018. Altman said some employees were relieved, calling it a “morale boost,” while others worried Musk would seek “vengeance.”
Musk’s attorney Steven Molo used cross-examination to question Altman’s honesty. He opened by asking Altman directly: “Are you completely trustworthy?” Altman first answered “I believe so,” then revised it to a simple yes.
Molo pressed Altman on past accusations from former colleagues, including Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, and referenced testimony from former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who said Monday he had gathered evidence of what he described as a pattern of deception by Altman.
Altman also addressed his brief removal as CEO in 2023. He called it an “incredible betrayal” and said the board gave him little explanation beyond saying he had not been candid with them.
“I had poured the last years of my life into this,” Altman said. “I was watching it about to be destroyed.”
OpenAI is now valued at over $850 billion by private investors. Musk is seeking to have Altman and Brockman removed and wants more than $130 billion redirected to OpenAI’s nonprofit foundation. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. The jury’s verdict is advisory, with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers making the final call.
The post “Left for Dead”: Altman Says Musk Walked Away From OpenAI — Not the Other Way Around appeared first on CoinCentral.
