By Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai OAKLAND, California, April 28 (Reuters) – Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stakes trial over the future of OpenAI as jurors consider Musk’s fraud lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company and co-founder Sam Altman. Musk, the world’s richest person, is suing OpenAI, its Chief Executive Altman […]
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Musk takes stand in OpenAI fraud trial
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By Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai
OAKLAND, California, April 28 (Reuters) – Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stakes trial over the future of OpenAI as jurors consider Musk’s fraud lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company and co-founder Sam Altman.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is suing OpenAI, its Chief Executive 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.
“If we make it okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed. That’s my concern,” Musk said in initial remarks.
Bill Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI and Altman, said it was Musk who saw dollar signs as he helped finance OpenAI’s early growth and pushed it to become a for-profit business, one he might eventually lead as CEO.
(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai in Oakland, California; Writing by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Nick Zieminski and Chris Reese, Noeleen Walder and Peter Henderson)