OAKLAND: A lawyer for Elon Musk told jurors at the start of a high-stakes trial against OpenAI on Tuesday that the defendants undermined his vision that artificial intelligence be used to benefit society, because the defendants were interested in collecting riches for themselves.

“The defendants in the case stole a charity, and we’re asking you to hold them accountable,” Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo told jurors in his opening statement in an Oakland, California, federal court.

Musk is suing OpenAI, its Chief Executive Sam Altman and its President Greg Brockman, saying they betrayed him and the public by abandoning the ChatGPT maker’s mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for humanity, and transforming the nonprofit into a profit-seeking juggernaut.

A defence lawyer will make an opening statement later on Tuesday. Musk, Altman and Brockman attended the trial.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAIs charitable arm. He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, with Altman and Brockman removed as officers and Altman removed from its board. Musk’s claims include breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

Even before jurors were seated, there was conflict as OpenAI lawyers complained about Musk’s posts on X on Monday, in which he assailed Altman as ‘Scam Altman’ and accused him of stealing a charity.

US Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she was loath to issue a gag order, and urged Musk to “try to control your propensity to use social media to make things work outside the courtroom Perhaps you’ve never done that before.” Musk agreed to minimise his social media activity, as did Altman.

OpenAI was co-founded by Musk and Altman in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google. Molo said “Elon became more worried” as the technology advanced, and collaborated with Altman to “develop AI safely” after a meeting with US President Barack Obama in 2015 did not address AI’s risks. “It wasn’t a vehicle for people to get rich,” Molo said.

Molo said Musk eventually recruited top AI scientists like Ilya Sutskever, contributed seed funding to OpenAI, and leveraged relationships to strike a partnership with Microsoft.

“He developed a strategy. He taught them all he knows about building a business,” Molo said. “Without Elon Musk, there would be no OpenAI.” Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, has said he provided about $38 million to OpenAI for its original mission, only to see OpenAI create a for-profit entity in March 2019, a little over a year after he left its board.

OpenAI countered that Musk knew about and supported the transformation, and sued only after failing to become CEO, and starting his own AI company to stunt its growth.

Molo said it’s okay for a non-profit to set up a for-profit entity if they share a mission, likening it to a museum opening a gift shop.

“The museum store can’t loot the museum and sell the Picassos,” he said, later adding: “To steal a charity is absolutely wrong.” Molo said a major turning point for Musk came when Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI in January 2023, valuing the latter at $20 billion.

“This was not consistent with the nonprofit’s mission,” he said. “It violated every commitment (the defendants) made, not just to Elon, but to the world.” Musk, Altman and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella are among the witnesses expected to testify. Rogers has said she wants jurors to begin deliberations on the defendants’ liability by May 12. If they find the defendants liable, both sides will argue possible remedies to the judge.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026