Musk vs. Altman: the key questionsthe trial must answer

The trial's most anticipated testimony is still to come. Sam Altman will take the stand — a moment both sides have been preparing for intensely. Microsoft's Satya Nadella is also expected to testify, as is Berkeley computer scientist Stuart Russell on the question of AI safety. The liability phase is expected to conclude by May 21, after which the remedies phase will determine what actually happens. The stakes could not be higher. If Musk wins — an outcome most legal experts consider unlikely — it could force OpenAI to unwind a corporate structure on which an $852 billion valuation and imminent IPO depend. If Altman wins, it will vindicate the transformation of one of the world's most important technology organisations from a scrappy nonprofit into a commercially dominant force, and it will settle — at least legally — the question of whether the idealism of 2015 ever constituted a binding promise. Either way, the documents and testimony already in the public record have changed how the world understands the founding mythology of the AI revolution — and the men at the centre of it.

Claims

• ▪Musk's foundational argument: his $38M donation was made under the explicit understanding that OpenAI would never be commercialised for private gain. This is the basis of the charitable trust claim.
• ▪"OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit to benefit all of humanity — not to enrich its executives."
• ▪Musk donated approximately $38 million to OpenAI between 2015 and 2018.