SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Two tech giants are facing off in federal court this week in Oakland, California. Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. That company, of course, is the maker of ChatGPT and one of the most influential AI companies in the world. Today, opening arguments got underway, and Elon Musk testified. Here with us to tell about it is Rachael Myrow, the senior editor of member station KQED's Silicon Valley news desk. She spent the day in court. Rachael, good to talk to you.
RACHAEL MYROW, BYLINE: Likewise, Scott.
DETROW: So to start, remind us what this trial is about.
MYROW: So the crux of this case is about what happened when OpenAI morphed from a standalone nonprofit into a nonprofit that ostensibly controls a for-profit organization. Elon Musk was one of the cofounders of OpenAI, but he left in 2018. Now, his team is arguing that OpenAI's Sam Altman and others betrayed their original mission. That was to develop AI in a way that would benefit humanity, first and foremost, ahead of making money. OpenAI's legal team meanwhile says that Musk knew all along it would be necessary to launch a for-profit to attract top talent and big funding, that he was part of those discussions, and he sued only after failing to install himself as CEO. He's since founded his own for-profit rival, xAI.
DETROW: And it sounds like lawyers for both sides really came out swinging in opening arguments. Tell us about it.
MYROW: Yes, indeed. Musk's attorney, Steve Molo, used a vivid analogy. The for-profit arm of OpenAI was supposed to be like a museum gift shop supporting the museum. Then Molo went on to argue OpenAI's museum store, if you will, sold the Picassos. In other words, the for-profit didn't just support the nonprofit; it consumed it. Now who bought the Picassos according to Molo? - Microsoft, investing billions over several years.
OpenAI attorney William Savitt pushed back. His opening line? We're here because Mr. Musk didn't get his way. He argued that Musk was fully involved from the get-go in discussions about creating a for-profit arm, but that Musk wanted to control it, demanding a majority equity stake. And when the other founders refused to hand him the metaphorical car keys, he walked.
DETROW: And then after that, Musk took the stand. What stood out to you in those first few hours of testimony?
MYROW: This was super fascinating stuff, Scott. Long before he was the head of companies like SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk says he worked as a lumberjack. He waited tables. I think this part was to establish a little likeability with the San Francisco Bay area jury. Now, why did he start OpenAI? In Musk's telling, because his close friend, a cofounder of Google, called him a, quote, "speciesist" (ph) for being pro-human when it came to AI safety. That was the moment, Musk said, when he decided he desperately needed a counterweight to Google's AI project DeepMind. Musk said, and I quote, "if the verdict makes it OK to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed." That's the frame, Scott, his team of attorneys wants jurors to carry into deliberations.
DETROW: So what happens next as the trial continues?
MYROW: Well, Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are all named as potential witnesses. So we'll be watching for their testimony in the coming days. If Musk wins, he's asking for OpenAI's for-profit conversion to be unwound, for Altman to be removed from the for-profit leadership and the nonprofit board, and for more than $100 billion in gains that Altman and others made to be directed to the nonprofit arm. But if those things happen, which is a big if, it could really kneecap one of the biggest runners in the race to build world-leading AI.
DETROW: That is KQED's Rachael Myrow. Thank you so much, Rachael.
MYROW: Thank you.
DETROW: And a note, Microsoft is a financial supporter of NPR.
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