There was a ‘morale boost’ when Elon Musk left OpenAI, Sam Altman testifies

By Hadas Gold, Samantha Delouya, CNN

Oakland, Calif. (CNN) — OpenAI’s cofounders once asked Elon Musk, who helped create and fund the company, an important question: If he were to control OpenAI, what would happen to the company on his death? Musk responded that he hadn’t thought about it much and that he might pass it on to his children.

Musk’s reply was a “hair-raising moment” in the early days of OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman said in testimony on Tuesday, in a trial that could determine the future of his company and potentially the AI industry.

“I didn’t feel comfortable with that,” Altman said

Musk is suing the company and its leaders over allegations that OpenAI, Altman and president Greg Brockman breached their charitable trust when OpenAI shifted from its nonprofit mission to include a profit-oriented structure. Microsoft, an early investor in OpenAI, is named as a co-defendant.

Musk wants the judge to order OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit and for Altman and Brockman to lose their board positions. He’s also asking that more than $130 billion go back into OpenAI’s nonprofit arm. A ruling in Musk’s favor could scramble OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering later this year.

OpenAI has denied Musk’s claims, saying Musk wanted a for-profit structure and only brought the case after he failed to gain control of OpenAI. OpenAI has claimed Musk, who started his own AI company after leaving OpenAI in 2018, is now attempting to harm a competitor.

Control over the future of AI

Before resigning from OpenAI’s board in 2018, Musk “demotivated” some key researchers by ranking their accomplishments, Altman testified, which damaged the company culture. Musk’s resignation boosted morale, Altman added.

Control over artificial general intelligence, a hypothetical stage of AI in which its cognitive abilities match that of a human across any subject, was an important factor in OpenAI’s founding, Altman said. The company was founded in part because Altman and the other cofounders believed one person should not be in charge of AGI if it were achieved, he said.

Musk wanted “total control” of any for-profit OpenAI entity to start, Altman testified, with a promise to reduce that control over time. But Altman wasn’t convinced Musk would step back, citing his experience working with startups where leaders rarely give up power over a successful company, he said.

“My belief is he wanted to have long-term control and that he would have had that had we agreed to the structure he wanted,” Altman said.

Google was considered the AI leader around the time OpenAI was established. Altman almost didn’t even start OpenAI because he thought the search giant was so far ahead, he said.

Musk eventually resigned because he lost confidence in OpenAI and didn’t think it would be successful, Altman suggested. At one point, Musk wrote in an email that OpenAI wasn’t a “serious counterweight” to Google’s DeepMind AI research lab, according to evidence presented in court.

Altman’s trustworthiness questioned

Musk’s attorneys questioned Altman’s trustworthiness, bringing up his brief ousting in 2023 when OpenAI’s board temporarily pushed him out as CEO over concerns about his leadership.

Musk attorney Steven Molo pressed Altman about whether he was “completely trustworthy,” citing accusations from OpenAI board members that Altman was dishonest and created a toxic culture of lying.

Altman largely replied by asking to be directed to specific testimony or saying he wasn’t aware of the accusations.

OpenAI board members and executives testified about their qualms with Altman earlier in the trial, including his resistance to the board’s oversight and alleged dishonesty with senior leadership, including former Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati.

OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever, who played a major role in Altman’s removal, testified on Monday that he spent months gathering evidence showing what he said was Altman’s pattern of deception and poor management. Sutskever later voted to have Altman return, saying he regretted the decision. Altman returned to his role just days after his removal and a new board was instated.

Altman described the 2023 events as an “incredible betrayal” that was “very public” and “very painful” in testimony earlier on Tuesday.

“If I knew how difficult and painful this was going to be, I never would have tried,” Altman said of his decade at OpenAI.

Altman’s testimony is expected to continue into Wednesday, with closing arguments beginning on Thursday before jury deliberations.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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