Sam Altman testifies in Musk v. OpenAI trial, facing cross-examination about trustworthiness and financial conflicts

Altman took the witness stand on Tuesday in the lawsuit where Musk accuses him of effectively stealing the OpenAI charity and using the $38 million Musk donated to create a for-profit business worth more than $850 billion. Altman testified that he and others did not recall Musk attaching any special conditions to his donations.

During cross-examination, Musk's lawyer questioned Altman about allegations of deceptive behavior from former colleagues including Ilya Sutskever, Mira Murati, Tasha McCauley, and Anthropic cofounders Dario and Daniela Amodei. Altman also disclosed owning a nearly $2 billion equity stake in nuclear energy startup Helion, a $600 million stake in Stripe, and investments in Reddit and Cerebras—all companies that have struck deals with OpenAI.

Altman recalled that Musk suggested control of OpenAI should pass to his children if Musk were to die, which Altman said "we didn't feel comfortable with." Altman characterized the nonprofit as one of the most well funded charities in history, testifying it has an equity stake in OpenAI worth more than $200 billion.