Sam Altman took to the witness stand to defend his reputation in the Musk v. Altman trial on Tuesday, as Elon Musk’s lawyers peppered the OpenAI CEO with hours of questions regarding his alleged history of deceptive behavior.
The cross examination was a much needed win for Musk, who has so far struggled to make a convincing case. Tuesday’s testimony included several heated exchanges in which the OpenAI CEO had to respond to allegations from former colleagues suggesting he’s untrustworthy.
Highlighting this evidence is not only important for Musk winning over a jury, but also for beating OpenAI in the court of public opinion. Days before the trial started, Musk texted OpenAI President Greg Brockman and told him that he and Altman would soon “be the most hated men in America.”
Musk’s lawsuit accuses Altman of effectively stealing the OpenAI charity, and taking the $38 million Musk donated to the non-profit organization and using it to create a for-profit business worth more than $850 billion.
However, there was little evidence on Tuesday to address the gaps in Musk’s legal case. Altman and Sam Teller, Musk’s former chief of staff, testified on Tuesday that they did not recall Musk ever attaching any special conditions to his donations to OpenAI. Additionally, it appears increasingly likely that Musk filed his case too late, years after he made his last donation to OpenAI and developed suspicion that the organization had breached its charitable trust. By then, the statute of limitations had already expired.
Brockman and his wife, Anna, sat in the gallery alongside OpenAI’s chief futurist, Joshua Achiam. While Altman and Brockman were present to watch Musk on the witness stand, Musk did not stay for Altman’s testimony. (Flight records suggest he was traveling to the Washington, DC area on Tuesday to fly to China with President Donald Trump.)
Before fielding questions from Musk’s lawyers, Altman had the chance to tell his side of the story, answering gentle questions from OpenAI’s lawyers. Wearing a purple tie, Altman painted himself as an entrepreneur and investor who’s always been fascinated by, and concerned about, the power of artificial intelligence.
Altman testified that Musk has long been obsessed with controlling OpenAI. He recalled “a particularly hair-raising moment” when Musk suggested that control of OpenAI should pass to his children if Musk were to die. “We didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Altman said. Altman also suggested that Musk’s attempt in 2018 to start an AI unit within Tesla—and offering him the chance to run it—felt like a “vague, lightweight threat” that Musk would effectively crush OpenAI with or without him.
Bombarding Altman
Steven Molo, Musk’s lawyer, wasted no time in his cross examination, asking Altman:“Are you completely trustworthy?” as his first question. Altman responded that he believes so, and then Molo immediately asked whether the jury should trust the testimony he just gave. Altman responded, “That’s up to them. I’m not going to tell the jury what to think.” Here’s the heated exchange that followed, as best as WIRED could capture it:
Molo: Do you always tell the truth?
Altman: I’m sure there is some time in my life where I have not.
Molo: Do you tell lies to advance your business interests?
Altman: No.
Molo: Have you misled people with whom you do business?