Elon Musk appeared in a California court on Tuesday, warning about artificial intelligence, which he himself helped develop, being capable of destroying humanity’s civilization. His target: OpenAI, the firm he co-founded a decade ago and now wants to dismantle in its current incarnation.
Musk has sued OpenAI along with CEO Sam Altman and Chairman Greg Brockman in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking $130 billion in damages. He also wants the company reformed as a non-profit organization, with Altman and Brockman stripped of their positions on its board.
“We don’t want a ‘Terminator’ outcome,” Musk told the jury, explaining why he originally funded the nonprofit with at least $44 million of his own money in 2015.
Bill Savitt, OpenAI’s lead attorney, said directly in his opening statement. “We are here because Mr. Musk did not get his way into OpenAI,” Savitt told the jury. “My clients had the courage to move forward and succeed without him.”
The company further argues that Musk himself once advocated a for-profit structure, making his current objections legally and factually inconsistent.
The atmosphere of the trial was clear before even a single witness took the stand. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Tuesday morning reprimanded Musk for a series of social media posts, calling Altman a “scam Altman,” warning that his posts would “only make things worse” and threatening a gag order. Musk agreed to reduce his postings. Altman and Brockman agreed to similar terms.
Jury selection revealed a different challenge for Musk: public perception. A dismissed juror described him in his questionnaire as “greedy” and a “piece of trash”; Another cited personal losses from DOGE, the Musk-led federal cost-cutting initiative under the Trump administration.
