Jury selection commences in Musk-Altman feud

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) — Jury selection began Monday in what may be one of the most consequential trials about the future of tech companies working on artificial intelligence, with two billionaires claiming a lion’s share of the responsibility for the advent of a nonprofit originally intended to create artificial general intelligence for the benefit of humanity.

In 2024, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, sued Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, and its for-profit enterprise that started after Musk acrimoniously left the startup in February 2018.

Musk claims Altman deceived him after Musk brought in technical talent and bankrolled the project with millions of dollars, while Altman made deals with other investors to ultimately make the nonprofit into a public benefit corporation, a for-profit entity, behind his back.

Musk brings breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment claims and seeks $150 billion in compensatory and punitive damages from OpenAI and Microsoft. In 2019, Altman partnered with Microsoft after the software company agreed to invest $1 billion as OpenAI made plans for its for-profit arm. Musk claims OpenAI has diverted from its original mission and would like the company to revert to a nonprofit. Microsoft is a co-defendant in the case over a claim of aiding and abetting the breach of charitable trust, with Musk claiming the company benefited from his early donations.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a Barack Obama appointee, instructed a courtroom full of potential jurors Monday that they were there to “honor their citizenship” and set aside any biases they may have regarding Musk or the defendants to render a fair verdict. Nine jurors will be selected.

When individually asked by Rogers, several people brought up their negative or strong views about Musk, but most said they would be willing to not let their personal opinions affect their position as a possible juror.

“I believe the facts are the facts. I do not like him, but I can separate my feelings from the facts of this case,” one potential juror said about Musk.

Rogers is no stranger to high-profile tech cases. She presided over a bench trial during the Covid-19 pandemic for Epic Games Inc. v. Apple Inc. in 2021, with Epic challenging Apple’s restrictions on apps purchased outside its App Store.

A who’s who of the Silicon Valley tech world is scheduled to testify at the trial, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; Mira Murati, a former OpenAI chief technology officer; Greg Brockman, Altman’s OpenAI number-two and a co-defendant in the case; and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and the mother of four of Musk’s children through IVF and surrogacy.

In 2023, Murati became the interim CEO of OpenAI for five days after the company’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, released a memo documenting concerns about Altman’s leadership and was ousted by its board. With the help of tech insiders, Altman remains CEO.

Musk’s attorney Steven Molo asked a few of the potential jurors to explain some of their negative thoughts on Musk, especially one man who said he had been following the case for “years” and was hoping “the quest for AI would shift” to benefit humanity.

Would you be interested to hear that Musk shares some of your views, Molo asked the man.

Rogers excused several potential jurors for financial hardship or language barrier reasons, but denied Molo’s request to excuse jurors who said in a questionnaire that Musk was “greedy, racist and homophobic” and a “world-class jerk.”

“The reality is people don’t like him,” Rogers said.

Musk and Altman, who cofounded OpenAI in 2015, later clashed over who should run it, leading to a long-running feud over the startup’s direction ever since Musk stepped down from the company board.

Musk sought a court order in 2024 to prevent OpenAI from going through with for-profit restructuring. Musk claimed the move violated OpenAI’s nonprofit mission and breached the terms of his previous donations to the company, approximately $45 million.

The court denied Musk’s bid for an order that would have blocked OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit in March 2025. It also further thinned Musk’sclaims against OpenAI last May.

In the lawsuit, Musk also accused OpenAI of violating multiple antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, through its close partnership with Microsoft, as well as other noncompetitive behaviors such as exclusivity agreements with investors that prevent them from funding other competitors in the AI market.

In counterclaims upheld by the court in August, OpenAI accused Musk of unlawfully disrupting the ChatGPT developer’s business relationships during the lawsuit by orchestrating a “sham bid” to buy the company for about $97.4 billion in February 2025. Altman claims Musk is trying to stop OpenAI and other tech companies investing large in AI from competing with xAI, a for-profit company Musk started after leaving OpenAI.

Ahead of the trial, OpenAI said in a post on X, “The truth and the law are on our side. This lawsuit has always been a baseless ​and jealous bid to derail a competitor.”

Altman’s attorney William Savitt asked several potential jurors what kind of news sources they trusted. Many responded they relied on “independent” or “not mainstream” news.

One juror said they were worried about the future of artificial intelligence, but said his concern was more general — “it could be made by Elon Musk, Sam Altman or Google” — and wasn’t tied to one company.

Opening statements for the trial begin Tuesday.