Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI is set to go to trial in Oakland, California, this week, with jury selection starting Monday at a federal courthouse and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers overseeing the proceedings. The case, expected to last two to three weeks, could affect the course of the AI boom — a reminder that decisions about a technology shaping daily life are being fought over in courtrooms, by executives, lawyers and regulators, far from anyone who will live with the consequences.
Who Gets to Rewrite the Rules
Musk’s suit, filed in 2024, centers on OpenAI’s formative years, when Musk, Altman and others co-founded the artificial intelligence company in 2015 as a nonprofit. OpenAI’s mission statement, published in late 2015, said: “OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.” That promise now sits in the dock alongside the company’s later transformation into a profit machine.
Musk alleges that Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, broke the company’s founding agreement by restructuring the company and converting much of it to a for-profit enterprise. Altman and OpenAI say Musk, who left the firm in 2018 amid internal disputes and has since started his own rival AI business, is a sore loser. Court filings featuring emails, texts and diary entries involving Musk and Altman have already hinted at episodes in OpenAI’s history that will be detailed in full, and the filings are described as rife with personal animosities and professional disputes that have shaped the AI industry.
The Nonprofit Promise, Then the Cash-In
The case carries sizable stakes for OpenAI, which is expected to go public later this year at about a $1tn valuation. Musk is seeking remedies that include the removal of Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman and more than $134bn in damages, which Musk says would be redistributed to OpenAI’s non-profit arm. Musk also wants to reverse the company’s restructuring as a for-profit entity, a move that would complicate its plans to go public.
Musk says Altman swindled him with the promise that OpenAI would operate as a nonprofit focused on safety and open access to artificial intelligence. Musk says that once Altman and OpenAI secured about $38m from him and advanced the company’s technology, the company “flipped the narrative and proceeded to cash in” on lucrative deals with Microsoft and the creation of for-profit affiliates. Musk’s complaint opens with the line: “Elon Musk’s case against Sam Altman and OpenAI is a textbook tale of altruism versus greed.” It also says Altman and the other defendants deceived and manipulated Musk about the non-profit structure, “preying on Musk’s humanitarian concern.” Musk’s complaint adds: “This was all hot-air philanthropy – the hook for Altman’s long con,” and “The perfidy and deceit are of Shakespearean proportions.”
OpenAI has denied Musk’s allegations, saying he agreed in 2017 that establishing a for-profit entity would be a necessary next step for the company and that Musk is “motivated by jealousy” and “regret for walking away.” The company says Musk’s funding was a tax deductible donation to the nonprofit and does not entitle him to ownership in OpenAI. OpenAI also said: “Elon has spent years harassing OpenAI through baseless lawsuits and public attacks.” It maintains a webpage titled “The truth about Elon Musk and OpenAI,” which calls Musk’s case a “smear” and “harassment” campaign and includes internal correspondence involving Musk.
What the Court Will Hear
Altman originally brought Musk into the project by emailing him in May 2015. Altman wrote: “Been thinking a lot about whether it’s possible to stop humanity from developing AI. I think the answer is almost definitely not,” and added: “If it’s going to happen anyway, it seems like it would be good for someone other than Google to do it first.” Altman, Musk and the other founders launched OpenAI later that year as a nonprofit organization and began recruiting top AI researchers. The relationship soured around 2017 after Musk grew impatient with progress and made a failed bid to exert more control over the company. He left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and stopped providing funding.
During OpenAI’s post-Musk years, it launched ChatGPT, raised tens of billions of dollars from Microsoft and grew to be one of the world’s most valuable private companies. Altman became the face of the AI boom and a power broker within the tech industry. As OpenAI sought more investment in 2025, the startup gained final approval from regulators to restructure its main business into a for-profit corporation, though one technically still overseen by the original nonprofit.
A nine-person jury will hear Musk’s breach of contract and unjust enrichment claims. Along with internal communications from Musk and key executives at OpenAI, Musk, Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are set to testify. Musk is represented by Marc Toberoff, a Hollywood lawyer with a flair for the dramatic, while Altman and OpenAI have tapped the white-shoe law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for their defense.
The feud between Musk and Altman has long been public. After OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, Musk called the chatbot “woke” and told Tucker Carlson on Fox News that OpenAI programmers were “training the AI to lie.” On a podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher, Altman described Musk as a “jerk.” On X, Musk has called Altman a “liar”, “swindler” and “Scam Altman”, while Altman replied to Musk’s posts saying “ambien tweeting is a dangerous game” and taunted him by posting a screenshot showing the cancellation of a $50,000 Tesla purchase. Musk replied: “You stole a non-profit.”
Unsealed depositions taken by OpenAI’s lawyers questioned Musk about his attendance at Burning Man and his use of “rhino ket,” a strong drug cocktail that includes the dissociative anesthetic ketamine. They also deposed Shivon Zilis, an executive at Musk’s brain implant company and mother of four of his children, about the nature of their romantic relationship. Zilis served on OpenAI’s board from 2020 to 2023. Musk’s lawyers want the testimony excluded as “inflammatory and highly irrelevant,” while OpenAI’s lawyers say it should remain in the record because it highlights Musk’s interpersonal relationships and “state of mind” during negotiations about the future of the company.
In a post on X in January, Musk said: “Can’t wait to start the trial,” and added: “The discovery and testimony will blow your mind.”