A California federal court on Monday hosts the selection of the jury which must examine the case brought by Elon Musk to Sam Altman over the genesis of OpenAI which they created together.
Published on: 04/27/2026 - 04:45 Modified on: 04/27/2026 - 09:17
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A California federal court hosts on Monday April 27 the selection of the jury which must examine the case brought by Elon Musk against another captain of the American AI industry, Sam Altman, whom he accuses of having betrayed the non-profit vocation of OpenAI which they created together.
Behind this duel between the richest man in the world and the powerful boss of ChatGPT, fighting for the supremacy of their AI laboratories, the trial puts a fundamental question back on the table: who should control artificial intelligence, and for whose benefit?
Proof that the issue goes beyond their personal quarrel, anti-Musk activists – hardly more favorable to Sam Altman – plan to demonstrate in front of the court in Oakland, on the other side of the San Francisco Bay, under the slogan: “Whoever wins, we are the losers.”
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The story dates back to 2015, when Sam Altman convinced Elon Musk to co-found OpenAI, promising a non-profit laboratory whose “technology would belong to the world”. Elon Musk invests $38 million.
Ten years later, OpenAI has become a commercial colossus valued at $852 billion, preparing for its IPO. Elon Musk ended up setting up his own laboratory, xAI, recently absorbed into his company SpaceX, valued at $1.25 trillion, in the running to become the most monumental IPO in the history of capitalism.
In September 2017, when Elon Musk threatened to cut funding if he did not obtain, according to him, a guarantee that OpenAI would remain a non-profit organization, Altman responded by email: "I remain enthusiastic about the non-profit structure!"
But a few months later, the OpenAI foundation created its commercial subsidiary. In 2019, Microsoft began investing there and then increased its commitment to $13 billion (a stake now valued at around $135 billion).
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who decided that the jury's verdict would only be advisory, must decide three questions by May: Did OpenAI violate its original philanthropic mission? Has she enriched herself unjustly to the detriment of her commitments? And do its links with Microsoft violate competition law?
In addition to the return of OpenAI to its non-profit status, which would block its IPO, Elon Musk is asking the courts to oust Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, and to sever ties with Microsoft, whose boss Satya Nadella is expected at the helm.
“Ego-motivated affair”
Elon Musk, who claimed up to $134 billion in damages, finally renounced any personal benefit, pledging to pay any possible reparations to the OpenAI foundation. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, skeptical of the multi-billionaire's requests, reserved the right to determine possible reparations herself, without the opinion of the jury.
The proceedings revealed a mass of internal communications from OpenAI, detailing tensions that culminated in the temporary ouster of Sam Altman in November 2023.
To reviewReturn of Sam Altman at the head of OpenAI: an ideological battle in the background
The Musk camp holds up Greg Brockman's diary. While Sam Altman continued to publicly affirm the maintenance of non-profit status, his co-founder wrote in November 2017: “If in three months we make a commercial company, then that would be a lie.”
OpenAI counters that Elon Musk already knew that a commercial turning point was inevitable and that the breakup was only caused by his demand for absolute control.
The AI laboratory believes that this whole affair is an anti-competitive maneuver favorable to xAI and has filed counter-complaints.
“This matter has always been driven by ego, jealousy and the desire to slow down a competitor,” the company reiterated in April. She denounces in particular the discreet creation by Musk in March 2023 of xAI, a few days before the entrepreneur proposed a six-month moratorium on the development of AI which would have slowed down his competitors.
Elon Musk's key witness, Shivon Zilis, mother of four of his children, will be interviewed. OpenAI will attack the credibility of the woman who served on its board of directors from 2020 to 2023 while concealing her relationship with Elon Musk: by SMS, she asked him in 2018 if she should remain “close and friendly” to OpenAI “so that information continues to circulate”.
If he won a symbolic victory by obtaining this trial, the SpaceX boss approaches it weakened. In addition to limiting the jury to an advisory role, the judge also narrowed the scope of her grievances and rejected several requests that would have oriented the deliberations in her favor.
With AFP
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