The courtroom dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI, the artificial intelligence organization led by Sam Altman, will unspool pages of internal records and personal writings as jurors are asked to weigh competing accounts of how the group shifted from a nonprofit research lab into a commercial force.
At the center of the documentary evidence is an entry from Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and co-founder, written in the fall of 2017: "This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon," he wrote. He followed that with the question, "Is he the 'glorious leader' that I would pick?" Those lines are part of the thousands of pages of internal documents submitted in the case since Musk, one of OpenAI’s original co-founders, sued the company, CEO Sam Altman and Brockman in 2024.
Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s largest investors, according to a person involved in the case, with proceeds intended for OpenAI’s charitable arm. Jury selection is planned for Monday in the federal court in Oakland, California, with opening arguments expected on Tuesday.
These documents provide an unusual window into the internal debates, frictions and leadership dynamics that shaped OpenAI’s trajectory from a small research effort operating out of Brockman’s apartment into an organization now widely viewed as a technology giant with enormous influence over generative AI.
Attorneys for both sides say the litigation will reveal how the chief executives with the most influence over generative AI viewed the technology and its commercialization. The trial also has the potential to complicate OpenAI’s preparations for any future initial public offering by raising questions about its governance and leadership amid a steady stream of unfavorable disclosures.
Musk’s complaint centers on the claim that OpenAI, Altman and Microsoft betrayed OpenAI’s founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to benefiting humanity. The suit points to the creation of a for-profit entity in March 2019 - roughly 13 months after Musk left the OpenAI board - and alleges that he was kept unaware of those plans, that his name and earlier financial support were used to facilitate a private "wealth machine," and that he and the public were effectively deceived. Among the remedies Musk seeks are damages, a reversion of OpenAI to nonprofit status, the removal of Altman and Brockman as officers, and Altman’s removal from the board.
OpenAI’s legal team rejects that narrative, arguing that Musk is motivated by a compulsion to control the organization and by a desire to bolster his own AI operations, namely xAI, which he established in 2023 shortly after ChatGPT’s launch. OpenAI maintains that Musk participated in discussions around the company’s restructuring and that he pressed to become CEO. Microsoft, also named as a defendant, denies any collusion with OpenAI and says its partnership began only after Musk had departed.
Several prominent figures from Silicon Valley are expected to testify in person, including Musk, Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who is also the mother to four of Musk’s children, is likely to be a key witness; OpenAI lawyers have alleged she channeled information about the company to Musk.
The litigation arrives as OpenAI faces intensifying competition and rising costs. The company is contending with rivals such as Anthropic and is investing heavily in computational resources. It is also moving toward a potential public listing that some projections have valued as high as $1 trillion. All of those pressures intersect with the legal uncertainty the trial will create.
Musk’s commercial ventures face parallel pressures. His AI effort xAI has been folded into SpaceX and trails OpenAI in usage. SpaceX itself plans a public offering this year that, if it proceeds as stated in filings and plans, could rank among the largest initial public offerings.
The pleadings and filings filed in court trace a long history of debates among OpenAI’s founders about strategy and leadership. Court papers say Musk provided about $38 million in seed money to OpenAI between 2016 and 2020, mostly before he left the board. The company’s governance has shifted more than once: in 2019 OpenAI restructured as a for-profit unit governed by a nonprofit parent to permit outside investment while purporting to preserve its original mission; last fall the organization amended its structure again to become a public benefit corporation in which the nonprofit and other investors, including Microsoft, hold stakes. The nonprofit retains a 26% stake in the company and holds additional warrants that could vest if OpenAI reaches certain valuation triggers.
Musk’s legal team has presented a damages calculation that multiplies OpenAI’s valuation by the portion of the nonprofit’s stake they say can be attributed to Musk’s contributions. That team has argued that between 50% and 75% of the nonprofit’s stake is attributable to Musk.
Court filings recount how the founders described their ambitions. Altman is said to have pitched the venture in May 2015 as a "Manhattan Project for AI." Musk’s association reportedly helped attract leading researchers, including then-chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, to the effort.
By mid-2017 tensions emerged. The filings indicate Musk began doubting OpenAI’s prospects and at times withheld promised funding after disputes with Altman, Brockman and Sutskever. One recurring point of friction in the papers is Musk’s aspiration to be CEO, a position that made other co-founders uneasy. Around that period Brockman’s diary records frustration with Musk and a contemplation of the financial upside of changing course. Brockman wrote, "Financially, what will take me to $1B?" and added, "Accepting Elon’s terms nukes two things: our ability to choose (though maybe we could overrule him) and the economics." Musk’s lawyers have highlighted those entries to support their claim that OpenAI’s leaders were motivated by profit as much as by mission.
By January 2018, the filings indicate, Musk had concluded OpenAI "is on a path of certain failure relative to Google," according to an email quoted in court documents. The company continued to evolve and in late 2022 launched ChatGPT, an event that helped turbocharge public interest in generative AI and prompted competing initiatives.
As the litigation proceeds, both sides confront strategic and reputational stakes. For OpenAI, the trial threatens to complicate governance narratives at a sensitive time as it prepares for expanded commercial activity and possible public markets. For Musk, the case raises questions about his early role, the character of his ongoing engagement with AI, and the overlap between his investment history and his later commercial efforts.
The evidence to be presented in court will likely center on contemporaneous documents, corporate structuring decisions and the recollections of the executives who shaped OpenAI’s course. How jurors interpret those materials will determine whether the lawsuit alters the legal and corporate landscape around one of the most consequential companies in the AI sector.