A court battle between billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman involving OpenAI reached the critical trial phase this week.
Background Info
OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory, was launched in December 2015 as a nonprofit by a slew of figures, including Musk and Altman.
Its original purpose was “to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”
According to the Associated Press, Musk for his part “invested about $38 million in OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017.”
Three years later, Musk resigned from OpenAI’s board because of disagreements over the company’s direction, as well as concerns about conflicts of interest with Tesla’s own AI work.
The following year, OpenAI launched a “capped-profit” subsidiary. The profit cap was later removed, and by 2025, OpenAI had transformed into a “public benefit corporation.”
Where Things Get Interesting
In early 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, accusing the company’s other co-founders — namely Altman — of betraying OpenAI’s nonprofit mission.
“His lawyers argue that Musk poured time, money, and recruiting resources to the AI lab … on the condition that it would remain a nonprofit ‘dedicated to creating safe, open-source AGI [artificial general intelligence] for public benefit,” NPR reported at the time.
“The suit … accuses OpenAI, Altman and the company’s president Greg Brockman of breaking their agreement with Musk by abandoning those founding principles over the years,” the reporting continued.
In a much more recent tweet, Musk accused Altman and Stockman of having “stole a charity.”
“Greg got tens of billions of stock for himself and Scam got dozens of OpenAI side deals with a piece of the action for himself, Y Combinator style,” he wrote. “After this lawsuit, Scam will also be awarded tens of billions in stock directly.”
“The fundamental question is simply this: Do you want to set legal precedent in the United States that it is ok to loot a charity? If so, you undermine all charitable giving in the United States forever,” he added.
Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop.
Greg got tens of billions of stock for himself and Scam got dozens of OpenAI side deals with a piece of the action for himself, Y Combinator style. After this lawsuit, Scam will also be awarded tens of billions in stock… https://t.co/R27ZeG9nNR
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2026
OpenAI’s Defense
The company has tried to defend itself by accusing Musk of having “sour grapes” and claiming that he himself had previously agreed to a for-profit structure when funding was low.
“[I]n 2017, Elon not only wanted, but actually created, a for-profit as OpenAI’s proposed new structure,” the company said in a blog post. “When he didn’t get majority equity and full control, he walked away and told us we would fail.”
“Now that OpenAI is the leading AI research lab and Elon runs a competing AI company, he’s asking the court to stop us from effectively pursuing our mission,” the blog post continued.
The company also took a swing at Musk on the social media platform X, writing, “His lawsuit remains nothing more than a harassment campaign that’s driven by ego, jealousy and a desire to slow down a competitor.”
Today, at the eleventh hour, Elon lodged a court filing pretending to change his tune about attacking the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation.
The truth is that this case has always been about Elon generating more power and more money for what he wants. Having increasingly realized that…
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) April 7, 2026
Latest Updates
According to Fox News, the lawsuit moved to trial on Monday as jury selection began. Note, however, that the judge will ultimately decide who’s the winner and loser.
🚨 BREAKING: 9 jurors have now been officially chosen for Musk v. Altman trial
The jury does not actually decide this case.
Their verdict will be advisory only.Judge Gonzalez Rogers decides the case herself. https://t.co/Q5XyTfSnjb pic.twitter.com/P9eBxIDhH1
— NIK (@ns123abc) April 27, 2026
“The judge determined that the jury won’t decide the specific repercussions in the case, and will instead work in an ‘advisory’ role to determine how much OpenAI would need to pay in disgorgement if it loses the case,” the network reported.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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