Jury selection wrapped up Monday in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California. Elon Musk’s bid to claw back $150 billion from OpenAI and Microsoft Corp heads into opening statements Tuesday. The Tesla chief, who co-founded the outfit as a nonprofit, calls it a straight-up theft of charitable assets. Yahoo Finance captured Musk’s blunt X post: “Do you want to set legal precedent in the United States that it is ok to loot a charity? If so, you undermine all charitable giving in the United States forever.”
Musk didn’t stop there. He labeled OpenAI CEO Sam Altman “Scam Altman” and President Greg Brockman “Greg Stockman,” accusing them of grabbing tens of billions in stock and side deals. “Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop,” he wrote April 27 on X, linking to court filings. OpenAI fires back hard. Their statement on X that day: “We can’t wait to make our case in court where both the truth and the law are on our side. This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor.” They plan to grill Musk under oath before Californian jurors.
But. This fight unfolds against Musk’s parallel push with xAI. His startup’s Colossus supercomputer in Memphis, Tennessee, now powers Grok training at gigawatt scale. From dirt to operational in 122 days for Colossus 1. Then Colossus 2 hit first-gigawatt status by January 2026, per Musk’s X posts. “The Colossus 2 supercomputer for @Grok is now operational. First Gigawatt training cluster in the world. Upgrades to 1.5GW in April,” he announced. By April 9, he noted seven models training: Imagine V2, variants of 1T, 1.5T, 6T, and 10T parameters.
xAI eyes 1 million GPUs total. Plans from December 2024 aimed to scale from 100,000. Now, Colossus 2 trains massive models while Musk tours investors through Whitehaven, as locals posted on X. Memphis Chamber calls it the region’s biggest capital investment ever. Jobs: around 500 high-paying ones. Yet backlash brews.
Gas turbines. Over two dozen methane-fired units power the beast without full Clean Air Act permits. NAACP and Southern Environmental Law Center sued in April 2026. They claim xAI runs a “de facto power plant,” dumping nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde into majority-Black South Memphis neighborhoods already plagued by poor air. Democracy Now! reported the turbines at Colossus 1 and 2 spew toxic emissions. Health costs? Studies peg them at $30-44 million yearly in medical bills.
xAI responds on water. They’re building an $80 million recycling plant to save billions of gallons from the Memphis Sands Aquifer. Musk posted April 9 via @xAIMemphis: “xAI is committed to building a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis… plans have not changed.” But first, stabilize Colossus 2. Critics see evasion. City Council extracted a $100 million community benefit fund from xAI taxes. Still, ordinances demand transparency. Expansion to 41 permanent turbines looms as the next battleground.
Power grabs everywhere. Grid strain hits everywhere AI booms. xAI sidestepped Tennessee pushback by plopping a gigawatt energy hub across the border in Southaven, Mississippi, as SemiAnalysis on X noted. Shortest power lines possible. Smart. But locals cry foul. Memphis risks becoming AI hub or pollution hotspot.
Back to the trial. Musk left OpenAI in 2018, aware of for-profit talks. He now sues over mission betrayal: AI for humanity’s benefit, not Microsoft profits. OpenAI says competition drives it—Musk’s xAI nips at heels with Colossus-fueled Grok. Outcome could redefine nonprofit shifts in tech. Set precedents on charity looting, as Musk warns. Or expose his strategies.
And space beckons. Musk eyes orbital AI in 30 months. “The most economically compelling place to put AI will be space,” he said recently, per X clips. xAI and SpaceX merge forces. Earthbound fights like Memphis turbines and OpenAI suits? Mere stepping stones. Colossus catches up fast. By June 2025 projections, Grok coding tops rivals when Colossus 2 fully ramps.
Industry watches. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang dubbed original Colossus the largest supercomputer yet, per Ground News. Dell’s Michael Dell visited, proud partner. xAI paints “MACROHARD” on roofs visible from orbit. Execution speed stuns. From 100k H100s to gigawatts in months.
Tensions rise. OpenAI trial spotlights governance fractures. xAI’s Memphis saga exposes AI’s dirty energy underbelly. Musk fights on two fronts: courts for past betrayals, data centers for future dominance. Winners reshape AI rules. Losers? Watch precedents crumble.
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