Jurors weigh OpenAI’s for-profit shift as trial concludes

Lawyers for Elon Musk and OpenAI made their closing arguments this week, bringing the trial to a close today. The jury must now decide whether OpenAI acted wrongly during its transformation into a slightly-more-for-profit organization. The legal battle has put a spotlight on the governance of the artificial intelligence developer and the actions of its founders during its structural transition.

The proceedings heavily scrutinized the credibility of both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and plaintiff Elon Musk, with the trial highlighting allegations of both being untruthful. Musk’s attorney, Steve Molo, grilled Altman about whether statements he’d made during congressional testimony were truthful. Specifically, Altman had made formal statements made to a government legislative body asserting that he did not hold equity in OpenAI. However, Altman held a stake in OpenAI through the startup accelerator Y Combinator. When questioned about this discrepancy, Altman stated that he assumed everyone understood what it means to be a passive investor in a venture capital fund. Meanwhile, the defense highlighted that Musk has made plenty of misleading statements of his own. TechCrunch reporter Kirsten Korosec noted that Musk has a history of public statements where he put something out on Twitter that was a lie or a bit of a fib, correcting the record only when on the witness stand.

Beyond the specific legal claims, the trial has raised broader questions about the transparency of private artificial intelligence developers. According to Korosec, “This is a fundamental question [for] a lot of tech journalists, policymakers, and more and more consumers, about all the AI labs.” The issue of trust has also been central to internal dynamics at OpenAI. TechCrunch writer Tim Fernholz raised the question of who trusts Altman, while reporter Anthony Ha asserted that many people who have worked with Sam Altman do not trust him. This skepticism has been linked to an executive power struggle at OpenAI, which company insiders refer to as “The Blip.” Altman has acknowledged being a little bit conflict averse, which can lead to misunderstandings. TechCrunch reporter Sean O’Kane also stated that he does not trust Altman, noting that he does not trust most people as a baseline.

Why it matters

The trial centers on the trustworthiness of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and the broader implications for AI labs, as jurors decide whether OpenAI acted wrongly during its transition to a for-profit structure.