By AFP, Reuters and The Associated PressPublished On 12 May 202612 May 2026In a United States court, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has rejected claims from fellow tech mogul Elon Musk that he betrayed the artificial intelligence company’s original vision.Tuesday marked the start of Altman’s testimony in a contentious trial unfolding in Oakland, California, between some of tech’s richest and most powerful titans.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listMusk, the wealthiest man in the world, has sued Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman on the basis that they “stole a charity” by shifting its purpose.He alleged that OpenAI’s leader persuaded him to invest $38bn, based on a goal of improving humanity, only to see the company pivot to a for-profit venture in 2019.On the witness stand on Tuesday, Altman instead framed Musk as a competitor obsessed with exercising control over OpenAI.“It does not fit with my conception of the words ‘stealing a charity’ to look at what has actually happened here,” Altman told the court.The two men have long had an acrimonious relationship, driven in part by differing views about artificial intelligence.Musk — a self-described free speech “absolutist” — currently runs his own AI chatbot, Grok, which has been accused of perpetuating right-wing conspiracy theories and offensive materials.He is seeking $150bn in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its principal investors.Altman’s testimony comes more than two weeks into the trial, which has seen him and Musk square off against each other.In his testimony, Altman argued that Musk knew of the plans to develop OpenAI into a for-profit enterprise when he invested, and he asserted that Musk even petitioned to have a majority stake in the company. Advertisement “An early number that Mr Musk threw out was that he should have 90 percent of the equity to start,” Altman told the jury. “It then softened, but it always was a ma …
