Musk vs. OpenAI Trial Week One: Courtroom Gasps, Leaked Texts, and a $134 Billion Question
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$134 billion in damages. Three days on the witness stand. One courtroom gasp. The first week of Musk v. OpenAI delivered exactly the kind of drama that made tech reporters cancel all other plans and camp out at the Oakland federal courthouse.
Musk's testimony at the OpenAI trial: three days of fireworks
The trial kicked off April 28 before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Musk spent three days repeating his core thesis to a nine-person advisory jury: you cannot steal a charity. He claims his roughly $38 million in early donations built what is now an $850 billion company, all without his blessing.
OpenAI's lead attorney William Savitt fired back with old emails and texts. His argument: Musk knew about the for-profit shift all along. He only sued in 2024, years after leaving the board, because his competitor was winning.
The bombshell: xAI distilled OpenAI's own models
Cross-examination produced the week's jaw-dropping moment. Musk admitted that xAI "partly" distilled OpenAI's models to train Grok. Audible gasps rippled through the courtroom. He dismissed the practice as standard, but OpenAI had publicly accused DeepSeek of doing the same thing just months earlier.
The irony writes itself. The man suing OpenAI for betraying its open-source mission borrowed that very technology to build a rival. Judge Rogers didn't let it slide, pointedly noting that xAI operates in the exact same space.
Musk vs. Altman trial: what comes next in Oakland
A fresh twist landed today: a pre-trial text from Musk to Greg Brockman threatening to make him and Altman "the most hated men in America." OpenAI's lawyers want it admitted as evidence of hostile motive. Brockman could take the stand as early as tomorrow.
The witness list ahead reads like an AI industry who's who: Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Mira Murati. The liability phase should wrap around May 21, after which Judge Rogers alone will decide the remedies. If OpenAI loses, its planned blockbuster IPO could be thrown into chaos. Week two starts tomorrow. Grab your popcorn.