Altman trial, OpenAI pushed back against Elon Musk's claim that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman misled him after he donated

In week two of the Musk v. Altman trial, OpenAI pushed back against Elon Musk’s claim that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman misled him after he donated $38 million to a nonprofit.

The Musk v. Altman trial entered its second week with the core dispute centered on whether OpenAI’s leaders misled Elon Musk after he gave $38 million to the organization’s nonprofit. OpenAI has countered that Musk himself advocated creating a for‑profit entity and that the lawsuit is motivated by personal disappointment and an effort to undermine a rival, xAI. The outcome could immediately affect governance, fundraising and product road maps across the AI sector.

Court filings and testimony outlined sharply different versions of OpenAI’s early trajectory. OpenAI has accepted billions of dollars in investment from Microsoft and last year converted its for‑profit subsidiary into a public benefit corporation; Musk has asked the court for as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft.

Greg Brockman testified at length about a pivotal summer 2017 moment following an AI victory in the game Dota 2, which he said prompted discussions about building a for‑profit arm to raise capital. He recounted a meeting at Elon Musk’s so‑called “Haunted Mansion,” cited an internal email that read “Time to make the next step for OpenAI,” and said Musk sought majority equity, board control and the CEO role for any new entity.

Former board member Shivon Zilis added a recruitment angle, testifying that Musk tried to recruit Sam Altman to run a new AI lab at Tesla. Brockman described intense negotiations among the cofounders and recalled that Ilya Sutskever showed up at one meeting with a painting of a Tesla as a “token of goodwill.

The financial and market context raised the trial’s stakes. OpenAI’s public listing has been discussed near a roughly $1 trillion valuation, while xAI now sits under SpaceX; some observers expect the combined companies to pursue a public offering potentially as early as June at a target valuation reported around $1.75 trillion. Those prospects sharpen the consequences of any court — ordered leadership changes or structural unwind.

Courtroom scenes added personal detail to the legal record. Brockman arrived in a blue suit with his wife present and testified calmly until cross‑examination; Altman largely listened in silence. Outside the courthouse, protesters opposed to rapid AI development sang hymns. Brockman said Musk privately floated a settlement and texted that “By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will.