A combination image shows Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on November 16, 2023 and Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter during Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023.
Carlos Barria | Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Jury selection is beginning in the high-stakes legal battle between longtime friends turned rivals Elon Musk and Sam Altman at a federal courthouse in Oakland, California.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is overseeing the proceedings, starting Monday, between the world’s richest person and the CEO of OpenAI. Nine jurors will be seated and there will be no alternates, according to a March filing. CNBC is in the courtroom for the proceedings.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, sued the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, in 2024, alleging they reneged on their commitments to keep the artificial intelligence lab a nonprofit and follow its charitable mission. OpenAI has repeatedly dismissed Musk’s lawsuit as “baseless.” Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018, and five years later started xAI as a rival, merging that company with SpaceX earlier this year.
Musk has sought a number of different remedies over the course of the case, including the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles at OpenAI. Musk’s lawyers said in January that he should receive up to $134 billion in “wrongful gains,” though he has since asked to funnel those funds back into the OpenAI charity.
Gonzalez Rogers opted to divide the trial into two parts: a liability phase to decide if any wrongdoing occurred, and a remedies phase to determine the appropriate damages and next steps. The jury will weigh in during the liability phase only, and its verdict will be advisory, which means Gonzalez Rogers will make the final decision in both sections of the trial.
The liability phase of the trial is expected to wrap up by May 21, Gonzalez Rogers said Monday.
Gonzalez Rogers started the proceedings by welcoming the prospective jurors to the courtroom. She cracked some jokes as she explained the case laid out the trial’s schedule. She then began asking prospective jurors questions, including their opinions on Musk and AI.
Altman and Brockman were in the courtroom on Monday.
Musk alleges in his lawsuit that he was “assiduously manipulated” and “deceived” by OpenAI, Altman and Brockman and their promises to “chart a safer, more open course than profit-driven tech giants.” He has asked the judge to consider unwinding the company’s recent restructuring, which cemented its structure as a nonprofit with a controlling stake in its for-profit business.
Musk and Altman have been in a public war of words for months leading up to the trial. That continued on Monday, with Musk writing in a post on X, “Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop.”
The comment followed a post from the OpenAI Newsroom account.
“We can’t wait to make our case in court where both the truth and the law are on our side,” OpenAI wrote. “This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor.”
Of the 26 claims that Musk asserted in 2024, only two remain: unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust. Musk’s lawyers dismissed two of the claims, fraud and constructive fraud, ahead of the trial in an effort to “streamline the case,” according to a filing
The trial lands as Musk prepares to take SpaceX public in what’s likely to be a record IPO and as OpenAI gears up for its own expect public offering later this year. The two companies combined are valued at over $2 trillion on the private market.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
WATCH: Elon Musk and Sam Altman go to court next week — here’s what to expect from the trial
