Questions about the dangers of artificial intelligence have been looming over the trial pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The trial in Oakland, California, centers on Musk's accusation that his fellow OpenAI co-founder betrayed promises to keep the company a nonprofit.
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Dear Readers: Yes, pen pal programs still exist in a digital worldVatican and State Department stress solid ties after Rubio's fence-mending visit over Trump attacksDecenas de pasajeros se bajaron del crucero afectado por hantavirus tras la primera muerte, en abril | William Savitt, attorney representing OpenAI, center, speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Elon Musk, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Sam Altman, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026.
OpenAI president Greg Brockman, second left, exits the U.S. District Court, in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026. William Savitt, attorney representing OpenAI, center, speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026.
William Savitt, attorney representing OpenAI, center, speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026. Elon Musk, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026.
Elon Musk, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Sam Altman, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026.
Sam Altman, left, gestures as he walks through a hallway inside the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. , Wednesday, April 29, 2026. OpenAI president Greg Brockman, second left, exits the U.S. District Court, in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026.
OpenAI president Greg Brockman, second left, exits the U.S. District Court, in Oakland, Calif. , Thursday, April 30, 2026. pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a moment when they found common cause on an ever more pressing question: how to protect humanity from the risks of It turned sour, and the jury is charged with settling the ensuing legal dispute between the two Silicon Valley titans.
But the unresolved questions about the dangers of AI have been looming over the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, since the trial began last week. The technology itself is not on trial – the judge has warned lawyers not to get “sidetracked” by questions about its dangers – but witness testimony has touched on concerns around workforce disruptions and the prospect raised by Musk that superhuman AI might one day kill us all.
Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, world’s richest man and OpenAI’s cofounder, took the stand Tuesday in a high-stakes trial revolving around a bitter feud between himself and former friends Sam Altman and Greg Brockman that could reshape the future development of artificial intelligence. One witness, AI pioneer Stuart Russell, said that the “winner take all” power struggle over AI’s future is itself threatening humanity.
Musk’s lawyers brought Russell to the stand as an expert witness, at the rate of $5,000 an hour. The University of California, Berkeley computer scientist listed a host of AI dangers, from racial and gender discrimination to jobs displacement, misinformation and emotional attachments that take some AI “Whichever company develops AGI first would have a very big advantage” and an increasingly big lead over everyone else, Russell told the court, using the initials forThe trial centers on the 2015 birth of OpenAI as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Musk.
Both Musk and Altman, who has not yet testified in the trial, have said they wanted OpenAI to safely develop AGI for the benefit of humanity and not for any one person’s gain or under any one person’s control. And both camps allege it’s the other guy who was trying to control it. A jury of nine people selected from the San Francisco Bay Area will get to say which one of them is telling the truth.
Early on, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers warned lawyers, particularly Musk’s, not to delve into broader AI concerns that go beyond Musk’s claims that OpenAI violated its charitable mission.
“This is not a trial on the safety risks of artificial intelligence. This is not a trial on whether or not AI has damaged humanity,” Gonzalez Rogers told lawyers before jurors arrived at the federal courthouse. Still, Musk managed to skirt that guidance in his testimony last week.
Asked to describe artificial general intelligence, Musk said it is when AI becomes “as smart as any human,” and added that “we are getting close to that point,” and AI will be smarter than any human as soon as next year. Musk said he has “extreme concerns” about AI and has had them for a long time.
Musk said he wanted a “counterpoint” to Google, which at the time had “all the money, all the computers and all the talent” for AI, with no counterbalance. Musk and OpenAI each say they are working for humanity’s benefit During his testimony, Musk repeatedly said that he could have founded OpenAI as a for-profit company, just like the other companies he started or took over.
“I deliberately chose this,” he said, “for the public good. ” The judge expressed some skepticism. In comments to lawyers last week before the jury came into the room, Gonzalez Rogers pointed out that Musk, “despite these risks, is creating a company that is in the exact same space,” referring to the billionaire’s xAI artificial intelligence company, which launched in 2023 and has since merged with Musk’s rocket company SpaceX.
, a defendant in Musk’s lawsuit along with Altman and their company, said he thought the technology OpenAI was developing was “transformative” — bigger than corporations, corporate structures and bigger than any one individual. It was, he said, “about humanity as a whole. ” Brockman testified this week that his No. 1 goal was always the “mission” of OpenAI and it was Musk who sought unilateral control over the company.
Brockman recalled a meeting where at first Musk seemed open to the idea of Altman being OpenAI’s CEO. In the end, however, “he said people needed to know he was in charge. ” In addition to damages, Musk is seeking Altman’s ouster from OpenAI’s board. If Musk wins, it could derail OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering of its shares.394
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