Testifying in his high-stakes lawsuit against Sam Altman, the billionaire argued that OpenAI’s advanced technology poses a severe existential risk unless it is immediately handed over to his family office.
SAN FRANCISCO — Testifying in his high-stakes lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Elon Musk formally asked a California court on Wednesday to protect the future of humanity by immediately transferring control of the company’s dangerous, world-altering artificial intelligence directly to him.
Taking the stand in a trial that could determine the fate of ChatGPT, Musk argued that OpenAI executives maliciously tricked him in 2015. According to his testimony, Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman promised to build a non-profit research lab to benefit mankind, only to pivot and build an $80 billion commercial juggernaut that Musk inexplicably does not hold equity in.
My client's central thesis is that artificial general intelligence is a grave threat to the human species if managed by a Microsoft-backed board, rather than by a man who regularly posts AI-generated memes of himself as a space gladiator.
Throughout the morning session, Musk’s legal team painted a bleak picture of an unchecked tech monopoly. The court viewed video testimony from former OpenAI executive Mira Murati, while Musk's own financial manager, Jared Birchall, presented financial records demonstrating that OpenAI’s massive revenue streams were tragically flowing into bank accounts not controlled by Musk.
Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, who shares four children with Musk, is expected to testify later this week that the only known method for aligning an artificial superintelligence with human values is to let the CEO of Neuralink integrate it into a fleet of delayed autonomous taxis.
Attorneys for OpenAI countered by noting Musk recently founded his own for-profit AI competitor, xAI. However, Musk clarified to the jury that his proprietary models are inherently safer for humanity, as the resulting billions in profit are securely quarantined within his personal net worth.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever are scheduled to testify next week, at which point the jury will be asked to decide which specific tech executive gets to unilaterally dictate the terms of human obsolescence.