Summary:
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Elon Musk warns of AI dangers in federal lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Musk seeks damages and company conversion.
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Musk fears “Terminator outcome,” promotes AI-human symbiosis. OpenAI accused of hijacking charity. Personal details emerge.
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Trial continues with conflicting statements and personal revelations. Altman expected to testify. OpenAI accuses Musk of jealousy.
Elon Musk took the stand Tuesday in his federal lawsuit against OpenAI, warning that artificial intelligence “could kill us all” as he testified against company CEO Sam Altman.
The trial began Monday in Oakland, California, and centers on Musk’s claim that OpenAI defrauded him by shifting from a nonprofit research lab into a for-profit enterprise now worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Musk, 54, co-founded OpenAI and was an early investor before departing in 2018. He filed the suit in August 2024 and is seeking monetary damages, Altman’s removal as CEO and the conversion of OpenAI back into a charitable organization.
On the stand, Musk invoked science fiction to describe his fears about unchecked AI development. “We don’t want to have a Terminator outcome,” he said, according to The New York Times. “We want to be in a Gene Roddenberry outcome, like Star Trek, not so much a James Cameron movie like Terminator.”
Musk said his own ventures, including brain-chip company Neuralink, aim to create an “AI-human symbiosis” that benefits humanity. He added that a for-profit arm at OpenAI would have been acceptable “as long as the tail did not wag the dog.”
Opening statements Tuesday painted clashing pictures of Musk’s motives. His attorney argued OpenAI hijacked a charity intended for the public good, while an OpenAI lawyer countered that Musk was upset because he “didn’t get his way,” the Times reported.
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The case has also surfaced personal details from Musk’s inner circle. Court filings reviewed by The Washington Post show texts in which Shivon Zilis, the mother of four of Musk’s 14 children and a former OpenAI board member, asked whether to “stay close and friendly to OpenAI to keep info flowing.”
Musk told her to stay close. Zilis confirmed in a September 2025 deposition that she and Musk were romantically involved.
Altman is expected to testify later in the trial, which is projected to last about a month. OpenAI has launched a webpage accusing Musk of being “motivated by jealousy.”
