Elon Musk and Sam Altman appeared together in a federal courtroom for the first time on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, as a trial over OpenAI’s transformation from nonprofit to commercial powerhouse got underway in the United States District Court before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
Musk, the first witness called to the stand, testified that he co-founded OpenAI to prevent what he described as a “Terminator outcome” — a catastrophic scenario in which artificial intelligence turns against humanity. He said his concerns about AI surpassing human intelligence dated back to his college years, and that he had lobbied governments, including a 2015 meeting with then-President Barack Obama, before concluding that outside action was necessary. Musk said he and Altman launched OpenAI as a nonprofit in response to unchecked AI development at Google, describing the intent as “the opposite of Google — an open-source nonprofit.”
Musk testified that he accepted a limited for-profit structure within OpenAI to attract the funding needed for hiring and computing, comparing it to a nonprofit museum running a for-profit gift shop. However, he said the arrangement crossed a line when Microsoft agreed to invest $10 billion in 2023 and OpenAI began moving intellectual property and staff into its for-profit arm. “The museum store sold the Picassos so they were locked up where no one could see them,” his attorney Steven Molo told jurors.
OpenAI’s attorney William Savitt pushed back, telling jurors the company never promised Musk it would remain a nonprofit or publish all its code. Savitt also noted that Musk was aware of plans for corporate investment exceeding $10 billion as early as 2018, and did not file a lawsuit until after he founded his own AI company, xAI, in 2023.
The outcome of the trial could result in financial damages and governance changes at OpenAI that may complicate the company’s plans for an initial public offering. Judge Gonzalez Rogers also warned both Musk and Altman to stop using social media to attack each other outside the courtroom.
Source: WIRED