‘Are you completely trustworthy?’: Musk’s attorney presses OpenAI CEO in trial

By Hadas Gold, Samantha Delouya, Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

Oakland, Calif. (CNN) — Elon Musk’s lawyer began his cross examination of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in court on Tuesday with a brief question: “Are you completely trustworthy?”

Musk is suing the company and its leaders over allegations that OpenAI, Altman and president Greg Brockman breached their charitable trust when OpenAI shifted from its nonprofit mission to include a profit-oriented structure. Microsoft, an early investor in OpenAI, is named as a co-defendant.

Musk’s lawyer grilled Altman about accusations of dishonesty from OpenAI’s board members, his investments and his brief, tumultuous ousting as CEO in 2023.

In contrast, OpenAI’s attorney suggested Musk, who helped create and fund the company, angled early for total control of OpenAI as Altman pushed back to ensure the powerful tech was not dominated by just one person.

Musk wants the judge to order OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit and for Altman and Brockman to lose their board positions. He’s also asking that more than $130 billion go back into OpenAI’s nonprofit arm. A ruling in Musk’s favor could scramble OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering later this year.

OpenAI has denied Musk’s claims, saying Musk wanted a for-profit structure and only brought the case after he failed to gain control of OpenAI. OpenAI has claimed Musk, who started his own AI company after leaving OpenAI in 2018, is now attempting to harm a competitor.

Altman’s trustworthiness questioned

Musk attorney Steven Molo cited earlier testimony from OpenAI board members and former executives that Altman was dishonest and created a toxic culture of lying.

Altman called himself “an honest and trustworthy business person” but said he wasn’t aware of some specific accusations.

Altman also criticized how the board handled his removal and said there were “misunderstandings.”

“I was not trying to deceive the board,” he said.

OpenAI board members and executives testified about their qualms with Altman earlier in the trial, including what they described as his resistance to the board’s oversight and alleged dishonesty with senior leadership, including former Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati.

OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who played a major role in Altman’s displacement, testified on Monday that he spent months gathering evidence showing what he said was Altman’s pattern of deception and poor management. Sutskever later voted to have Altman return, saying he regretted the decision. Altman returned to his role just days after his removal and a new board was instated.

Altman described the 2023 events as an “incredible betrayal” that was “very public” and “very painful” in Tuesday’s testimony.

“If I knew how difficult and painful this was going to be, I never would have tried,” Altman said of his decade at OpenAI. “I’m very grateful I didn’t, because other than my family, this has been the most meaningful thing in my life I could imagine.”

Control over the future of AI

Control over artificial general intelligence, a hypothetical stage of AI in which its cognitive abilities match that of a human across any subject, was an important factor in OpenAI’s founding, Altman said. The company was founded in part because Altman and the other cofounders believed one person should not be in charge of AGI if it were achieved, he said.

Musk wanted “total control” of any for-profit OpenAI entity to start, Altman testified, with a promise to reduce that control over time. But Altman wasn’t convinced Musk would step back, citing his experience working with startups where leaders rarely give up power over a successful company, he said.

“My belief is he wanted to have long-term control and that he would have had that had we agreed to the structure he wanted,” Altman said.

OpenAI’s cofounders once asked Musk an important question: If he were to control OpenAI, what would happen to the company on his death? Musk responded that he hadn’t thought about it much and that he might pass it on to his children.

Musk’s reply was a “hair-raising moment” in the early days of OpenAI, Altman said.

“I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Altman said

Musk eventually resigned because he lost confidence in OpenAI and didn’t think it would be successful, Altman suggested. At one point, Musk wrote in an email that OpenAI wasn’t a “serious counterweight” to Google’s DeepMind AI research lab, according to evidence presented in court.

Google was considered the AI leader around the time OpenAI was established. Altman almost didn’t even start OpenAI because he thought the search giant was so far ahead, he said.

Before resigning from OpenAI’s board in 2018, Musk “demotivated” some key researchers by ranking their accomplishments, Altman testified, which damaged the company culture. Musk’s resignation boosted morale, Altman added.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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