Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk clashed with lawyers for a third consecutive day on Thursday during his high-profile court battle against OpenAI in California.
Courtroom Drama
The legal dispute centres on Musk’s claim that OpenAI abandoned its founding non-profit mission and transformed into a commercial entity.
During proceedings, Musk appeared visibly frustrated while being questioned by OpenAI’s defence attorney over the structure of his own artificial intelligence ventures.
“Few answers are going to be complete, especially when you cut me off all the time,” Musk said during cross-examination.
Presiding judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, repeatedly urged Musk to directly answer questions and avoid disputing the legal strategy of opposing counsel.
At one point, after objecting to what he described as “leading questions,” Musk acknowledged that he was not a lawyer.
“I am not a lawyer,” he said, before joking that he had once taken a law course in school.
Musk, who reportedly contributed about 38 million dollars to OpenAI between 2015 and 2017, is suing the organisation and its leadership, including Chief Executive Officer, Sam Altman, and President, Greg Brockman.
He alleges that the company deviated from its original mission of developing artificial intelligence for the public good and instead evolved into a profit-driven enterprise now valued at more than 850 billion dollars.
Musk is asking the court to compel OpenAI to return to its original non-profit structure.
Legal analysts say the case could have wider implications for the governance, ownership and regulation of artificial intelligence in the United States.
During Thursday’s session, OpenAI’s lawyer, William Savitt, challenged Musk over the structure of his own businesses, including Tesla, Neuralink, X Corp. and xAI, all of which operate as for-profit entities.
“There’s nothing wrong with having a for-profit organisation,” Musk responded, while maintaining that OpenAI had violated its founding principles.
“You just can’t steal a charity,” he added.
Musk also made remarks about potential long-term AI risks, saying a worst-case scenario could involve artificial intelligence posing existential threats to humanity.
Judge Rogers earlier cautioned against straying into speculative discussions during testimony.
Musk concluded his third day of testimony on Thursday, although he may be recalled as proceedings continue.
Altman, who was present in court, is expected to testify in the coming weeks alongside Brockman.
A ruling in the case is expected by mid-May.
