Elon Musk Had ‘Hair-Raising’ Idea of Passing OpenAI On to His Kids, Sam Altman Says

Sam Altman took on the witness stand to defend his reputation Musk vs. Altman trial Tuesday, as Elon Musk’s lawyers peppered the OpenAI CEO with hours of questions regarding his alleged history of deceptive behavior.

The cross-examination was a well-deserved victory for Musk, who has so far struggled to present a convincing case. Tuesday’s testimony included several heated exchanges in which OpenAI’s CEO had to respond to allegations from former colleagues suggesting he was untrustworthy.

Highlighting this evidence is not only important for Musk to convince a jury, but also to beat OpenAI in the court of public opinion. Days before the trial began, Musk texted OpenAI Chairman Greg Brockman to tell him that he and Altman would soon be “the most hated men in America.”

Musk’s lawsuit accuses Altman of effectively stealing from the OpenAI charity and taking the $38 million that Musk donated to the nonprofit and using it to create a for-profit company worth more than $850 billion.

However, there was little evidence Tuesday to fill in the gaps in Musk’s legal case. Altman and Sam Teller, Elon Musk’s former chief of staff, said Tuesday that they don’t recall Musk ever attaching any special conditions to his donations to OpenAI. Additionally, it seems increasingly likely that Musk filed his case too late, years after he made his last donation to OpenAI and developed suspicions that the organization had violated his charitable trust. By then, the statute of limitations had already expired.

Brockman and his wife, Anna, sat in the gallery alongside OpenAI’s chief futurist, Joshua Achiam. While Altman and Brockman were present to observe Musk on the witness stand, Musk did not stay for Altman’s testimony. (Flight records suggest he was traveling to the Washington, D.C., area on Tuesday to visit China with President Donald Trump.)

Before answering questions from Musk’s lawyers, Altman had the opportunity to tell his side of the story, answering questions posed by OpenAI’s lawyers. Wearing a purple tie, Altman introduced himself as an entrepreneur and investor who has always been fascinated and concerned by the power of artificial intelligence.

Altman said Musk has long been obsessed with controlling OpenAI. He recalled “a particularly hair-raising moment” when Musk suggested that control of OpenAI should pass to his children if Musk were to die. “We didn’t feel comfortable with it,” Altman said. Altman also suggested that Musk’s 2018 attempt to create an AI unit within Tesla – and offer him the chance to lead it – seemed like a “vague and slight threat” that Musk would effectively crush OpenAI with or without him.

Altman Bombardment

Steven Molo, Musk’s lawyer, wasted no time in his cross-examination, asking Altman: “Are you completely trustworthy?” as his first question. Altman responded that he believed so, then Molo immediately asked whether the jury should trust the testimony he had just given. Altman responded: “It’s up to them. I’m not going to tell the jury what to think.” Here’s the heated exchange that followed, as best as WIRED was able to capture it:

Molo: Do you always tell the truth?

Altmann: I’m sure there are times in my life when that’s not the case.

Molo: Are you telling lies to promote your business interests?

Altmann: No.

Molo: Have you misled the people you do business with?