Former allies face off in court! A deep dive into the "hundred-billion-dollar" power game between Musk and Altman

Author: Max, Crypto City The Silicon Valley trial of the century has officially begun, with Musk appearing in court to defend his original vision. This high-profile tech industry lawsuit has officially entered the jury trial phase at the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California. Tesla CEO Elon Musk appeared in court on Tuesday to testify, detailing to the 9-member jury his original motivations for founding OpenAI. During the trial, Musk emphasized that the core significance of this lawsuit is to "save humanity," rather than for personal gain. He recalled conversations in 2015 with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, noting that he was deeply uneasy about Google's pursuit of AI safety, fearing a catastrophic outcome similar to the movie Terminator. To balance this potential threat, Musk claimed he conceived the prototype for OpenAI and even personally named the company. According to court documents and Musk's testimony, he provided approximately $38 million to $44 million in initial seed funding to OpenAI before 2016, when it was still a non-profit organization. Musk pointed out that he was dedicated to recruiting top talent at the time, including Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, and used his personal influence to secure the first AI supercomputer from NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, as well as personally contacting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to obtain cloud computing resources. In his testimony, Musk reiterated that he was persuaded by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman that OpenAI would remain a non-profit forever and would make its research code public. Musk stated bluntly that the current OpenAI has deviated from its altruistic mission at inception, transforming into a closed-source entity that maximizes profits—a transformation he views as a complete betrayal of his original intent. From non-profit ideals to a capital empire: The core dispute of the multi-billion dollar lawsuit. In their opening statement, Musk's legal team described OpenAI's transformation as a calculated "plunder of a charity." Lawyers accused Altman and Brockman of manipulating Musk into investing significant funds and resources by promising to build an organization that was more transparent and safer than for-profit enterprises. The lawsuit centers on the process of OpenAI's transition from a non-profit to a capital giant valued at $852 billion. Musk is asking the court to remove the current leadership team, including CEO Altman and President Brockman. Furthermore, according to major international media reports, Musk has requested damages ranging from $138 billion to $180 billion, promising that if he wins, the entire sum will be donated back to OpenAI's non-profit charitable arm. With the success of ChatGPT, OpenAI's commercial value has ballooned, and it is currently planning a massive IPO that could push the company's valuation past $1 trillion. Musk's side argues that the deep partnership established between OpenAI and Microsoft has effectively turned the company into a closed subsidiary of Microsoft. Musk explained in court that while he had supported the creation of a for-profit branch to handle massive computing costs, the premise was that the for-profit portion must be subordinate to the non-profit organization and could not strip the vast majority of value away from the charitable mission. He mentioned that they had discussed having Tesla provide funding or establishing a for-profit entity, with the core principle being that "the tail cannot wag the dog," meaning commercial interests should not dictate the company's direction. Defense lawyers strike back, revealing Musk's attempt to control the power landscape. Facing Musk's severe accusations, OpenAI's legal counsel William Savitt launched a strong counterattack during the opening. The defense team argued that the main reason Musk filed the lawsuit was his failure to successfully control OpenAI. Savitt pointed out in court that Musk used his $1 billion donation pledge as leverage, attempting to bully other members of the founding team into submitting to his demands for control. Evidence revealed by OpenAI shows that Musk proposed merging OpenAI into his electric vehicle company, Tesla, in 2018, viewing Tesla as a "cash cow" for OpenAI and demanding absolute majority equity and control of the organization. After Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever rejected this proposal, Musk angrily left the board and turned to establish his competitor, xAI. Defense lawyers further refuted Musk's insistence on the so-called "non-profit mission," calling it hypocritical. They presented documents proving that Musk had long recognized that to compete with giants like Google, OpenAI had to transform into a for-profit entity to secure billions in funding. Savitt sarcastically remarked that Musk never truly cared about AI safety or non-profit structures; what he really cares about is holding supreme power. OpenAI emphasized that Musk's current efforts are essentially aimed at suppressing competitors and attempting to use legal means to obtain the technological dividends he voluntarily gave up years ago. The trial is expected to last about three weeks, during which Microsoft CEO Nadella, Altman,