Jury selection begins Monday at a federal courthouse in Oakland before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the high-stakes trial pitting Elon Musk against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, according to multiple reports.
Musk, who filed the suit in 2024, alleges that Altman broke OpenAI's founding agreement by restructuring the company into a for-profit enterprise. He is seeking the removal of Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman and more than $134bn in damages. He claims Altman swindled him with the promise of a nonprofit, secured about $38m, then cashed in with Microsoft and for-profit affiliates.
OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is 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.
Altman and OpenAI counter that Musk is a sore loser who left the firm in 2018 and started a rival AI business. OpenAI, which was founded as a nonprofit with a mission to benefit humanity, is expected to go public later this year at about a $1tn valuation, according to reports.
Separately, xAI has filed a lawsuit against the state of Colorado over a new AI law set to take effect in June. The Colorado law imposes new requirements on AI systems to protect against algorithmic discrimination in sectors like education, employment, healthcare, housing, and financial services. Colorado was the first state to pass a comprehensive bill to regulate AI.
Elon Musk's case against Sam Altman and OpenAI is a textbook tale of altruism versus greed.
xAI claims the law infringes on First Amendment free-speech protections and would force xAI to promote the state's ideological views on racial justice. The company is seeking an injunction to block enforcement of the law and a declaration that it is unconstitutional. Katie Miller, former xAI spokesperson, heralded the lawsuit in a post on X, according to reports.
xAI's chatbot Grok has consistently spewed racist, sexist, and antisemitic content, according to multiple reports. Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed the AI bill into law in 2024 but with reservations, calling for amendments. The law was originally to go into effect in February but was pushed to June 30.
This was all hot-air philanthropy – the hook for Altman's long con.
xAI merged with SpaceX earlier this year. The Colorado attorney general's office declined to comment on the lawsuit.