Altman himself took it to the witness stand in order to defend his good name in Musk v. Altman trial on Tuesday, as Elon Musk’s lawyers peppered the OpenAI CEO with hours of questions about his alleged history of fraudulent behavior.
The cross-examination was a much-needed victory for Musk, who has so far struggled to make a convincing case. Tuesday’s testimony included several heated exchanges during which OpenAI’s CEO had to respond to allegations from former colleagues that suggested he was untrustworthy.
Highlighting this evidence is essential not only to Musk winning over a jury, but also to defeating OpenAI in the court of public opinion. Days before the trial began, Musk sent a text message to OpenAI CEO Greg Brockman and he told him that he and Altman would soon “be the most hated people in America.”
Musk’s lawsuit accuses Altman of effectively stealing from the charity OpenAI and taking $38 million Musk donated to the nonprofit and using it to create a for-profit business worth more than $850 billion.
But there wasn’t much evidence Tuesday to plug the holes in Musk’s legal case. Altman and Sam Teller, Musk’s former chief of staff, testified Tuesday that they did not recall Musk ever attaching any special conditions to his donations to OpenAI. Additionally, it seems increasingly likely that Musk filed his case too behind schedule, years after he made his last donation to OpenAI and raised suspicions that the organization had breached the charity’s trust. By then, the statute of limitations has already expired.
Brockman and his wife Anna sat in the gallery next to OpenAI’s chief futurist, Joshua Achiam. While Altman and Brockman were present to watch Musk on the witness stand, Musk did not remain during Altman’s testimony. (Flight records suggest on Tuesday he was heading to the Washington area to fly to China with President Donald Trump.)
Before taking questions from Musk’s lawyers, Altman had the opportunity to tell his side of the story while answering sensitive questions from OpenAI’s lawyers. Wearing a purple tie, Altman introduced himself as an entrepreneur and investor who has always been fascinated and concerned about the power of artificial intelligence.
Altman testified that Musk had long been obsessed with controlling OpenAI. He recalled a “particularly chilling moment” when Musk suggested that in the event of Musk’s death, control of OpenAI should pass to his children. “We didn’t feel comfortable with it,” Altman said. Altman also suggested that Musk’s 2018 attempt to launch an AI unit at Tesla – and offer him a chance to run it – seemed like a “vague, light threat” that Musk would effectively crush OpenAI with or without him.
Altman bombing
Steven Molo, Musk’s lawyer, wasted no time in questioning and asked Altman, “Are you completely trustworthy?” as his first question. Altman replied that he thought so, and Molo immediately asked whether the jury should trust his testimony. Altman replied, “It’s up to them. I’m not going to tell the jury what to think.” Here’s the heated exchange as best WIRED could capture it:
Wharf: Do you always tell the truth?
Altman: I’m sure there’s a time in my life when I haven’t done this.
Wharf: Do you lie to advance your business interests?
Altman: NO.
Wharf: Have you misled people you do business with?