For the past two editions, I've been keeping you up to date on what's been going down at the Musk vs Altman trial, one of the biggest lawsuits of the year. As a reminder, Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and its leadership for betraying the company's original nonprofit mission when they converted it into a for-profit venture. Musk, who donated $38M of OpenAI's earliest funding before leaving the board in 2018 over a power struggle with Altman, is seeking up to $150B in damages and an order forcing OpenAI to unwind its for-profit conversion, as well as the removal of Altman and Brockman from their leadership positions. Read my May 4 and May 11 coverage to catch up on what you missed.
Well, on Thursday, the three-week trial came to an end with attorneys from both sides delivering their closing arguments. The jury will begin deliberations today (May 18, 2026) and deliver an advisory verdict that Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers can then adopt or override, after which there will most certainly be an appeal from either side. At the time of publishing this edition, news of that verdict has not been released. However, follow my LinkedIn Page for an update later today (or potentially later this week).
In the meantime, I'll catch you up to speed on what you missed last week during the trial:
- OpenAI quietly changed its governance structure during its 2025 for-profit transition to make it harder to fire CEO Sam Altman, according to court documents released by Elon Musk's expert witness on Sunday. Under the new bylaws adopted in October 2025, a two-thirds supermajority of the for-profit entity's nonemployee directors is now required to fire the CEO, compared to the previous structure that only required a simple majority (over 50%) of the nonprofit board.
- OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who left the company in May 2024 to co-found a competing AI research lab called Safe Superintelligence, testified that his stake in the company is worth roughly $7B, making him one of the largest individual shareholders. Sutskever said he had been thinking about concerns with Altman for a year before he convinced the board to briefly oust him.
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stand on Monday and testified that Elon Musk never contacted him with concerns that Microsoft's investments in OpenAI were violating any special terms of commitments. Nadella defended the company's $13B+ investments in OpenAI as commercial rather than charitable donations and said he was “very proud” that Microsoft took the risk to invest when “no one else was willing” to bet on OpenAI. Nadella also addressed Altman's 2023 firing, calling the board's handling of the situation “amateur city” and saying he was “pretty surprised” by the decision, though he denied demanding that the board reinstate Altman as CEO.
- OpenAI chief futurist Joshua Achiam testified that Elon Musk called him a “jackass” during a February 2018 all-hands meeting after Achiam pushed back on Musk's plan to race toward AGI, which Achiam and others viewed as “reckless.” Achiam said Musk told around 60 employees he was leaving OpenAI because Tesla would soon compete for elite AI talent, creating a “conflict of interest,” and that Musk lacked confidence in OpenAI's path and wanted to “pursue AGI in his own way” out of fear someone else would do the wrong thing with it. Achiam said his colleagues later gifted him a gold “jackass” trophy inscribed “Never stop being a jackass for safety.”
- Sam Altman took the stand on Tuesday and pushed back against the notion that Musk genuinely cares about OpenAI, testifying that “Mr. Musk did try to kill it,” and adding that Musk launched a competitor called xAI, tried to poach OpenAI's talent, and engaged in “business interference.” Altman also admitted under oath that there were “some times in my life when I did not” tell the truth and that he had been called a liar by business associates. Then again, I'm sure Altman and Musk could go tit for tat with non-truth-tellings if Musk was also pressed on the stand.
- During closing arguments, Musk's lawyer Steven Molo told the jury that “the credibility of Sam Altman is central to this case” and that Musk's roughly $38M in early funding was diverted into a for-profit AGI play that enriched OpenAI insiders and Microsoft.
- OpenAI's lead trial lawyer Sarah Eddy countered that Musk “effectively abandoned” the nonprofit in 2018, attached no binding conditions to his donations, and only sued after launching rival firm xAI.
- Musk was not present during the closing arguments, despite being ordered by the judge to do so, because he was visiting China with President Trump.
Stay tuned!
