It’s laborious to think about now, however Elon Musk and Sam Altman had been as soon as glad co-workers. The ability duo co-founded OpenAI in 2015 to construct synthetic intelligence safely. Now they’re going through off in a bitter $134 billion lawsuit that went to trial this week.
Right here’s what the trial is all about: Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and sued the corporate, Altman and president Greg Brockman in 2024, alleging they broke their dedication to maintain the AI lab a nonprofit. Musk claims he was “assiduously manipulated” and “deceived” by guarantees to “chart a safer, extra open course than profit-driven tech giants.” He desires the choose to unwind OpenAI’s latest restructuring, which turned it right into a nonprofit with a controlling stake in a for-profit enterprise, and take away Altman and Brockman from their roles.
OpenAI calls the lawsuit “baseless and jealous.” Of Musk’s 26 unique claims, solely two stay: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable belief. The trial comes as Musk prepares to take SpaceX public in a report IPO and OpenAI gears up for its personal public providing later this yr.
It’s laborious to think about now, however Elon Musk and Sam Altman had been as soon as glad co-workers. The ability duo co-founded OpenAI in 2015 to construct synthetic intelligence safely. Now they’re going through off in a bitter $134 billion lawsuit that went to trial this week.
Right here’s what the trial is all about: Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and sued the corporate, Altman and president Greg Brockman in 2024, alleging they broke their dedication to maintain the AI lab a nonprofit. Musk claims he was “assiduously manipulated” and “deceived” by guarantees to “chart a safer, extra open course than profit-driven tech giants.” He desires the choose to unwind OpenAI’s latest restructuring, which turned it right into a nonprofit with a controlling stake in a for-profit enterprise, and take away Altman and Brockman from their roles.
OpenAI calls the lawsuit “baseless and jealous.” Of Musk’s 26 unique claims, solely two stay: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable belief. The trial comes as Musk prepares to take SpaceX public in a report IPO and OpenAI gears up for its personal public providing later this yr.

