Elon Musk spent three days on the witness stand in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California, last week, facing his own words in a high-stakes lawsuit against OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The case, filed back in 2024, accuses OpenAI of abandoning its nonprofit roots for profit-driven ambitions tied to Microsoft. But the real drama unfolded during cross-examination. Musk’s testimony clashed sharply with his public boasts on X. CNBC reporters noted jurors watched videos of Musk’s deposition and text messages, including exchanges with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg. Tension peaked as OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt grilled the billionaire.
Musk had predicted artificial general intelligence, or AGI, would arrive in 2025. It didn’t. He then eyed the end of 2026 for xAI. Last month, he posted that Tesla would pioneer AGI via its Optimus humanoid robot, which recently stumbled in a demo under human remote control. Yet under oath, Musk declared Tesla has no plans to pursue AGI. “Tesla is not developing and has no plans to develop artificial general intelligence,” he said flatly, as New York Times coverage detailed. OpenAI’s Greg Brockman scribbled a note to his team as Musk spoke. Tesla plans to drop $25 billion on capital expenditures this year, mostly AI projects, per Reuters. Shareholders might wonder where AGI fits.
And then there was distillation. Musk once slammed Anthropic for allegedly stealing data to train models like Claude. But pressed on whether xAI had distilled from OpenAI—using rivals’ models to train its own, including Grok—Musk admitted it. “Generally, AI companies distill other AI companies,” he replied. “Partly,” when asked if xAI did so with OpenAI. He called it standard practice to validate models. Wired called it a seeming admission. TechCrunch highlighted how Musk asserted the technique amid OpenAI and Anthropic’s crackdowns on it.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers intervened repeatedly. She cut off Musk’s talk of AI doomsday scenarios and Terminator-like robot armies. “This trial is not about AI doomsday,” she snapped, per The Guardian. Musk bristled at yes-or-no questions, claiming they were “designed to deceive.” The judge ordered direct answers. Jurors saw Musk describe his companies as socially beneficial despite for-profit status. Tesla advances sustainable energy, he said. SpaceX, Neuralink, and X? All good, in his view.
Musk’s early OpenAI support came under fire too. He once floated a $100 million pledge publicly. Under oath: $38 million in strict monetary terms, plus rent for OpenAI’s Pioneer Building space—where Neuralink also operated. “I’m still confused as to how a nonprofit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit,” he’d posted. Lawyers poked holes. Neuralink aims for AI safety through human-AI symbiosis, Musk testified earlier, helping paralyzed users control devices and tying humans to machines for a safer future. The Ringer annotated the exchanges, noting Musk’s résumé rundown.
OpenAI argues Musk’s suit stems from sour grapes—losing control after quitting in 2018, then launching xAI in 2023 as a rival. Emails surfaced showing Musk open to a for-profit OpenAI arm, even Tesla acquiring it or poaching talent. He told a Neuralink exec to recruit directly from OpenAI. On the stand, Musk said companies must hire talent or fall behind. He even called most cryptocurrencies scams during testimony, though some have merit—a nod to OpenAI’s past ICO talk, per recent X buzz.
The contradictions pile up. Public Musk hypes breakthroughs. Courtroom Musk dials back. xAI faces suits over Grok’s deepfakes, per CNBC. Tesla’s AI bets test investor faith amid Optimus stumbles. Neuralink pushes brain implants for symbiosis. Yet under oath, realities emerge: no Tesla AGI push. Distillation? Everyone does it. Boom. Musk’s companies chase the same frontiers he sues to regulate.
Testimony wrapped Thursday. Musk joked about taking “Law 101” when the judge reminded him he’s no lawyer. The trial rolls on, with witnesses ahead. For industry watchers, this exposes the gap. Musk the CEO operates in grayer zones than Musk the poster. Investors pricing Tesla at AI premiums? They heard the sworn truth. xAI building Grok? Now rivals know the training tricks. OpenAI fights for its structure—a nonprofit overseeing for-profit arms.
But broader questions linger. Musk warns of existential AI risks, yet pours billions into the race. His Neuralink pitch: merge with machines to stay ahead. Tesla skips AGI? Fine, but $25 billion says AI matters. Distillation hypocrisy undercuts his theft claims. And those tweets? Weapons in court. As Gizmodo put it, under oath, Musk runs a different company. The singularity waits. So does the verdict.
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