Musk v. OpenAI Case Goes to Court on Monday, with Both Sides Engaging in Pretrial Verbal Sparring

According to Dongcha Beating monitoring, the Musk v. OpenAI case officially went to trial at the Oakland federal court in California on April 27th local time, with jury selection taking place that day. Opening statements are expected to begin on Tuesday. On the day of jury selection, both parties engaged in a heated exchange on Twitter.

The official OpenAI account took the first shot, stating, "We can't wait to present our evidence in court; the truth and the law are on our side. This lawsuit has always been a baseless, jealousy-driven attempt to stifle competition. We finally have the opportunity for Musk to testify in front of a California jury."

Musk then fired back, alleging that Altman and Brockman "stole from a charity," giving Altman the nickname "Scam Altman." He claimed that Brockman received billions of dollars worth of stock, while Altman enriched himself through dozens of side deals associated with OpenAI. Musk also alleged that Altman did not disclose his ownership of the OpenAI Startup Fund to the board, lied under oath to Congress about not profiting from OpenAI, and retweeted a video clip where former OpenAI board member Helen Toner called Altman a "fraud." Musk stated, "I could have founded OpenAI as a for-profit company, but I chose to establish, fund, and hire for the public benefit, and then they stole from this charity."

Case Overview: Musk accuses Altman and Brockman of promising to maintain OpenAI as a nonprofit when they founded it in 2015, inducing his $38 million investment, but OpenAI later switched to a for-profit structure. Musk is seeking up to $134 billion in damages, claiming that the compensation will be fully returned to OpenAI's nonprofit arm, and is requesting the removal of Altman and Brockman, as well as the reversal of the for-profit conversion. The presiding judge is Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, and the liability phase is expected to last until mid-May, with both sides scheduled to testify in court.