The tech tycoon accepted friendly questioning from his own lawyers on Tuesday; cross-examination is still pending. After two years, numerous legal filings and multiple social media posts, Elon Musk finally had the opportunity to vent his dissatisfaction with OpenAI in court on Tuesday.
The world's richest man accused OpenAI of violating the original intention of the charitable trust, and emphasized in court testimony that this case will set a precedent to determine whether and how non-profit organizations can transform into commercial companies.
Under friendly questioning from his own lawyer, Musk first recalled the early days of OpenAI and told his original intention of co-founding the organization in 2015 - to ensure the safe and controllable development of artificial intelligence. He answered questions in court about his personal experience and past email exchanges with Sam Altman and other OpenAI co-founders. Musk also predicts that artificial intelligence will reach human levels on all tasks as early as next year.
When asked to explain the core claims of the lawsuit in his own words, Musk said: "It's actually very simple."
He said that if the court rules that OpenAI, Altman and other defendants are not responsible, "this case will become a precedent and form a judicial precedent. In my opinion, this is equivalent to giving a green light to the asset grabbing of all charities in the United States." This view is consistent with Musk's post on the social platform X on Monday.
OpenAI has strongly refuted Musk’s accusations and related characterizations.
Altman and OpenAI President Gregg Brockman attended Tuesday's opening statement, but Altman left early before Musk took the stand. Lawyers from both sides will refute and cross-examine Musk’s claims one by one during the cross-examination session on Wednesday.