A high-stakes legal battle is unfolding in an Oakland, California federal court, pitting tech titan Elon Musk against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The contentious trial, overseen by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and scheduled to continue through late May, centers on Musk's allegations that OpenAI betrayed its foundational promise to remain a nonprofit organization dedicated to benefiting humanity. Musk, who was instrumental in co-founding OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, claims the company's pivot to a for-profit venture, now valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, is a breach of their original agreements.

During his third day of testimony, Elon Musk engaged in a heated exchange with OpenAI's attorney, William Savitt. Musk accused Savitt of asking misleading questions designed to trick him and the jury. A key point of contention revolved around the definition of a nonprofit in the context of capped investor profits. Musk had previously stated that a company wouldn't violate its nonprofit agreements as long as investor profits were capped. When pressed by Savitt, Musk clarified, stating, "It depends on how high the cap is." He further elaborated that if the cap is "super high," then OpenAI is "really a for-profit at that point," highlighting his concern about the spirit of the original agreement. When Savitt questioned if his earlier answer was incomplete, Musk retorted that "few answers are going to be complete, especially if you cut me off all the time."

OpenAI's legal team has vehemently rejected Musk's civil lawsuit, asserting that there were never any explicit promises for the company to remain a nonprofit indefinitely. They argue that Musk's legal challenge is a strategic move to undermine OpenAI's rapid growth and to bolster his own competing artificial intelligence venture, xAI, which he launched in 2023.

Further into the cross-examination, Savitt queried Musk about his other prominent companies—Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, and X—all of which are for-profit entities. Musk confirmed their for-profit status and affirmed his belief that all these companies are "socially beneficial." When asked why he had not started a new nonprofit in the eight years since he departed from OpenAI, Musk delivered a pointed response: "I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it." He emphasized that this conviction forms "the entire basis of this lawsuit," underscoring the deep-seated nature of his grievances against the company he helped create. Musk was excused from the witness stand but may be recalled later in the trial.