Elon Musk's Lawsuit Against Sam Altman Heads to Trial

Jury selection is set to begin in the fraud lawsuit Elon Musk filed against OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman. The trial will take place in an Oakland federal court. Musk first sued OpenAI in 2024, arguing the company defrauded him when it reorganized from a nonprofit into a for-profit business. Musk was a co-chair of OpenAI when it launched in 2015 as a nonprofit research company. He left the board in 2018 and has said he donated about $38 million to the organization. OpenAI completed its reorganization earlier this year, converting its for-profit arm into a public benefit corporation. The nonprofit, now called the OpenAI Foundation, holds equity in the for-profit arm valued at $130 billion. Musk has requested that Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman step down, and that OpenAI restructure as a nonprofit. He has also asked that any monetary damages be redirected to OpenAI's nonprofit arm. His legal team is seeking disgorgement of between $65.5 billion and $109.43 billion from OpenAI, and between $13.3 billion and $25.06 billion from Microsoft, a co-defendant. UCLA law professor Michael Dorff said it is highly unlikely the court will undo OpenAI's reorganization, given the involvement of state attorneys general from California and Delaware in approving the deal. Testimonies from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, and Altman himself are expected during the trial.