Elon Musk took the stand during the second day of proceedings in the trial between the SpaceX CEO and Sam Altman.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers oversaw the proceedings in federal court in Oakland, California.

Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman were also in attendance.

Musk is accusing OpenAI, Altman and Brockman of reneging on their vow to keep OpenAI a nonprofit. OpenAI has called the lawsuit “baseless.”

Musk previously sought up to $134 billion in damages personally, but is now asking for “all ill-gotten gains” to go to the OpenAI charity.

The highly anticipated trial between Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, concluded its second day of proceedings on Tuesday.

Musk in 2024 sued OpenAI, Altman and Greg Brockman, the AI company’s president, alleging they went back on their promises to keep the artificial intelligence lab a nonprofit. OpenAI established a for-profit subsidiary after Musk left its board in 2018, and Musk claims that his $38 million worth of contributions to the business were used for unauthorized commercial purposes.

Musk on Tuesday was the first witness called to testify in the trial. He spoke about his upbringing, his many companies, his role in founding OpenAI and his understanding of its structure. Musk stated in his testimony that he was not opposed to the creation of a tiny for-profit subsidiary, “as long as the tail didn’t wag the dog.”

Musk commented he was motivated to start OpenAI to serve as a counterweight to Google. He got the idea after an argument he had with Google co-founder Larry Page, who called Musk a “speciesist for being pro-human,” he testified.

“I could have started it as a for earnings and I chose not to,” Musk mentioned on the stand.

Earlier, attorneys for Musk and OpenAI presented their opening arguments to the jury. Musk’s lead trial lawyer, Steven Molo, delivered the opening statement for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. OpenAI lawyer William Savitt gave the opening statement for the AI corporation, Altman and Brockman.

OpenAI has characterized Musk’s lawsuit as a baseless “harassment campaign.” The enterprise remarked Monday in a post on X that it “can’t wait to build our case in court where both the truth and the law are on our side.”

CNBC’s reporters covered the trial from the federal courthouse in Oakland, California, as well as from CNBC’s bureaus in San Francisco and Englewood Cliffs, Novel Jersey.

Musk says he wanted to start OpenAI to oppose Google

During his testimony on Tuesday, Musk repeatedly emphasized that he founded OpenAI to serve as a counterweight to Google. He mentioned he got the idea after an argument about AI safety with Google co-founder Larry Page, who Musk noted called him “a speciesist for being pro-human.”

Musk mentioned he was concerned Page was not taking AI safety seriously, so he wanted there to be an nonprofit, open source alternative to Google.

— Ashley Capoot

AI safety expert Vivian Dong predicts trial’s impact will be ‘largely confined to OpenAI’

What impact could this trial have on the broader tech industry?

Attorney and AI safety expert Vivian Dong predicts that the outcome of Musk v. Altman will be limited, at least from an AI safety perspective.

“No specific AI safety policy or industry practice is on trial, so the implications will be largely confined to OpenAI,” Dong, a program director at Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Innovation, noted in messages to CNBC.

“It would be unprecedented for a court, in a private breach of charitable trust suit, to order the structural changes to OpenAI that Musk is seeking,” she added. “The officials responsible for holding OpenAI to its charitable mission are the Attorneys General of Delaware and California—not Musk, whose own AI business has one of the worst safety track records in the industry.”

Musk’s xAI, which he started to compete with OpenAI in 2023, is facing lawsuits and regulatory probes in multiple international jurisdictions after its Grok AI chatbot and image generator enabled mass production of sexually explicit deepfakes which were based on photos of real women and children who did not consent.

— Lora Kolodny

Musk’s lawyers will call Jared Birchall as their next witness

Musk’s lawyers tell Judge Gonzalez Rogers that they will conclude Musk’s testimony tomorrow and then bring Jared Birchall to the stand.

Birchall manages Musk’s billions at his family office, Excession LLC, and is an executive at xAI and Neuralink.

– Jeffrey Kopp

Testimony concludes for the day

Testimony has concluded for the day. Musk will return to the stand to complete his testimony on Wednesday.

The judge is giving the jury instructions, which include strict orders not to discuss the trial with anyone.

Toward the end of his testimony today, Musk looked slightly fatigued. He was taking sips of water, rubbing his head and running his hand through his hair.

Musk takes credit for OpenAI’s founding, early recruits

Musk says in his testimony that he played a pivotal role in the founding of OpenAI, and that he would not have contributed his resources if the intent of the company’s founders was to build a income.

“I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key humans, taught them everything I know, provided all the initial funding,” Musk says.

Musk’s lawyer enters into evidence the founding charter of OpenAI from 2015, which declared that OpenAI would seek to create “open source tech for the public benefit,” and that it was “not organized for the private gain of any person.” He shows the courtroom the document, displayed on a monitor.

“It was specifically meant to be for a charity that did not benefit any individual person,” Musk says. “I could have started it as a for-profit and I chose not to. I chose to build it something for the benefit of all humanity.”

— Jeffrey Kopp 

Musk on future of AI: ‘It could construct us more prosperous, but it could also kill us all’

Musk is discussing his predictions for the future of AI, its place in humanity and the risks it poses.

“It could create us more prosperous, but it could also kill us all,” he says on the stand. “We want to be in a Gene Roddenberry movie, like Star Trek, not so much a James Cameron movie, like Terminator.”

He likened training AI to to raising children: “It’s like if you had a very smart child… at the end of the day when the child grows up, you can’t really control that child, but you can try to instill the right values. Honesty, integrity, caring about humanity – being favorable, essentially.”

He also made a stark prediction: “My guess is that AI will probably be as smart as any human as soon as next year.”

— Jeffrey Kopp

Musk details his tech and business qualifications

As Musk recounts his entrepreneurial bona fides — including his work as CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, founder and CEO of re-usable rocket maker SpaceX and founder of the brain computer interface firm Neuralink — he’s demonstrating his longstanding interest in safe AI.

He stated the long-term goal of Neuralink was “actually AI safety, in the sense that if we can closely tie the human globe to AI, basically if we’re going to achieve better human-AI symbiosis, then we’re more likely to have a future with AI that is favorable for humanity.”

Musk seems at ease on the stand as he answers questions about his background

Musk seems relaxed and pretty at ease so far. He is answering questions about his background and his early ventures, as well as his responsibilities as the head of Tesla and SpaceX.

This line of questioning from Molo seems to be an effort to help the jury understand who Musk is, as well as his many commitments.

– Ashley Capoot

Musk takes the stand

Musk just took the stand to testify. His lawyer, Molo, will start to ask him questions.

Altman has not returned to the courtroom, but Brockman is here.

Microsoft lawyer cites statute of limitations, Musk’s relationship with Nadella in opening statement

Russell Cohen, a lawyer for Microsoft, argued in his opening statement that Microsoft did not — and could not have — aided OpenAI’s alleged breach of a charitable trust.

He first argued that Musk’s suit exceeded the statute of limitations. Cohen pointed to a September 2020 post on X in which Musk wrote that “OpenAI is essentially captured by Microsoft” — evidence, he argued, that Musk knew about the Microsoft relationship years before filing his lawsuit.

He then argued that Microsoft had no knowledge of any breach, and that Musk could have raised any concerns with its CEO Satya Nadella directly.

“Let’s be clear about one thing: Mr. Musk knew how to get in touch with Satya Nadella if he wanted to,” Cohen remarked, noting Musk personally had Nadella’s phone number. “For five years after the partnership was declared, Mr. Musk never told Microsoft that it was violating special conditions on his donations to OpenAI.”

Cohen also argued that Musk was motivated to sue only after he launched a competing AI lab, xAI, in 2023.

“It was only after ChatGPT was so successful that he launched his own for-profit AI corporation, xAI, that he suddenly made his claims against Microsoft,” Cohen commented.

How OpenAI and Musk’s xAI are structured today

The trial centers on OpenAI’s structure, ownership and mission through the years.

In October 2025, OpenAI became a nonprofit, named the OpenAI Foundation, that holds a controlling equity stake in a for-profit business, called OpenAI Group PBC.

At the time it completed the restructuring, OpenAI Foundation held about a 26% stake in the for-profit while Microsoft — which had backed OpenAI since 2019 — held a roughly 27% stake.

Musk, meanwhile, started xAI as a for-profit, public benefit corporation (or PBC) in March 2023. The organization shed its PBC commitments to do social and environmental positive in 2024. Musk then merged xAI with his social network X in 2025, and into SpaceX, his aerospace and defense business, this year.

Both SpaceX and OpenAI are racing to go public while investor interest in AI remains high.

Musk will be the first witness to testify in the trial, his lawyers confirm

The first witness called to testify in the case will be Musk, his lawyers confirmed. Musk’s testimony will begin after a brief 20-minute recess that the judge just ordered.

What is Microsoft’s role in the case?

Microsoft is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Musk accuses Microsoft of aiding and abetting OpenAI, Altman and Brockman’s alleged misconduct in one claim in the case.

His attorneys will argue that Microsoft enabled their alleged breach of charitable trust through its investments and partnerships with the company’s for-profit subsidiary.

OpenAI lawyer: ‘We are here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way’

“We are here because Mr. Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI,” Savitt told the jury. “That’s what happened. He quit, saying they would fail for sure. But my clients had the nerve to go on and succeed without him. Mr. Musk may not like that, but it’s no basis for a lawsuit.”

Now it’s Microsoft’s turn

OpenAI’s lawyer just concluded his opening statement, and now a lawyer representing Microsoft is up facing the jury. He is explaining Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI and the nature of the partnership between the two companies.

Microsoft is one of OpenAI’s longtime backers, investing more than $13 billion in the organization since 2019. The companies declared a revamped version of their collaboration on Monday.

OpenAI attorney: Musk explored nonprofit structure change for OpenAI, never fulfilled donation promises

Savitt says Musk “never expressed the view that OpenAI had to remain purely nonprofit, or even that he thought it should be.”

He showed the jury an e-mail from former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis — who shares four children with Musk — to Sam Teller, who worked for Musk, describing two ways that OpenAI could change its structure: “Roll everything into a B corp,” or “OpenAI C Corp and OpenAI non-profit,” the e-mail mentioned.

Musk only “supported a for-profit, so long as he was in control,” Savitt says.

He also emphasized that Musk never donated all the funds he had promised to OpenAI, leaving the organization to scramble for additional support.

OpenAI lawyer explains jargon to jury

Savitt is facing the jury as he presents his opening statements. He is making sure to explain terms that the jury might not be familiar with, including Dota, a video game, and a B Corp, a type of for-profit firm.

He is wearing a blue suit with a green tie.

Who are Musk’s expert witnesses?

Molo told the jury to expect to hear testimony from humans who were there in the early years of OpenAI, and two key experts.

The expert witnesses for Musk are Stuart J. Russell, science professor and AI researcher with the University of California, Berkeley, and David M. Schizer, Columbia Law professor, dean emeritus and tax scholar.

Russell is a founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at UC Berkeley, and a co-author of the foundational AI textbook, “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach.” Schizer is the author of “How to Save the Earth in Six (Not So Easy) Steps: Bringing Out the Best in Nonprofits.”

Altman appears in prerecorded video at AWS event

As the legal showdown kicked off in the courtroom, Altman just made a virtual appearance at an Amazon Web Services event.

“I wish I could be there with you in person today,” he stated in a prerecorded video. “My schedule got taken away from me today, I wanted to send a short message.”

Altman highlighted OpenAI’s ongoing infrastructure partnership with the corporation and mentioned it’s bringing its coding agent, known as Codex, to AWS customers.

— Samantha Subin

Lawyer for OpenAI begins opening statement

The court is back from a short recess. William Savitt, an attorney representing OpenAI, Altman and Brockman, is beginning his opening statement.

– Josephine Rozzelle

Altman, Musk wait in courtroom for OpenAI opening statement

While in recess, Altman stood with his arms crossed and a concerned look on his face while in conversation with counsel and team members. Musk sat studying his notes with his jaw set, working his tongue against the inside of his cheek.

Altman and Brockman are seated together at the front of the gallery. Musk is at a table in the center of the courtroom with his lawyers.

Musk’s lawyer faced the jury as he presented his opening statement

Molo, Musk’s lawyer, faced the jury the entire time he presented his opening arguments. He spoke clearly, and he did not employ technical language as he talked.

He is wearing a charcoal grey suit with a purple tie.

Here’s what it’s like inside the courtroom

The courtroom where the proceedings are happening is not very massive. I am seated on a wooden bench on the left side of the room with other members of the media. There are six benches on the left side, and three benches on the right.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers sits on a chair that is elevated above the rest of the courtroom. Lawyers for Musk and OpenAI are gathered in leather chairs around two rectangular tables. The tables are in front of a gate, so they are separated from the benches where I am sitting. Laptops, binders, chargers and bottles of water are covering the tables.

The jury also sits in front of the gate. They are seated in two rows of leather chairs on the left side of the room, which is decorated with portraits.

Court recesses for a 20-minute break

Musk’s lawyer just concluded his opening statement, and Gonzalez Rogers ordered the court to recess for 20 minutes.

When the proceedings resume, it will be time for a lawyer representing OpenAI, Altman and Brockman to present their opening arguments.

Altman is still in the courtroom, and he’s typing on his phone. Musk is seated at a table with some of his attorneys. Brockman left the room.

Musk’s lawyer poses three questions to jury

Molo asks the jury to keep three questions in mind throughout the trial.

“First: Did OpenAI have a charitable mission to operate as a non-profit, to develop safe AI, open source, for the beneficial of humanity?”

Second: “Did Altman and Brockman violate that mission through what they’ve done with the for-profit business?”

And third: “Did Microsoft know about the charitable mission and substantially assist Altman and Brockman in breaching it?”

Technical difficulties briefly pause opening statement

As Molo was presenting his opening arguments, his microphone and the screen where he has been showing images went down.

“What can I tell you? We are funded by the federal government,” Gonzalez Rogers joked, which was met with laughter in the courtroom.

Proceedings are back underway.

‘Without Elon Musk, there would be no OpenAI’: Lawyer

Molo says Musk provided the financial backing and vision that set the stage for OpenAI’s success.

“Without Elon Musk, there would be no OpenAI, pure and simple,” he says.

Musk’s efforts included hiring and training leading AI scientists and contributing $38 million in early funding to the enterprise, Molo says.

Musk’s lawyer gives opening statement, asks jurors to set aside opinions of Tesla CEO

Musk’s lead trial lawyer, Steven Molo, is delivering his team’s opening statement to the jury. Molo is urging jurors to set aside any preconceived opinions they have about the Tesla CEO.

“Everybody seems to know Mr. Musk and have an opinion of Mr. Musk,” he says. “Not everybody’s opinion is superb, not everybody’s is bad.”

Molo argues that the case is being decided for the “benefit of mankind as a whole,” rather than financial gain. He also called Musk a “legend in the tech world,” briefly touching on Musk’s upbringing and business ventures, such as SpaceX and Tesla.

Judge is walking the jury through case, basic court know-how

Judge Gonzalez Rogers is walking the nine jurors through basic court know-how.

“Anything you may see or hear when we are not in session is not evidence… you are to decide solely on the evidence received,” she remarked.

Gonzalez Rogers told jurors to take into account several factors, including the witnesses’ memory, bias, and interst in the outcome of the case.

Here are the two claims that will be argued in the trial

Of the 26 claims that Musk asserted in his 2024 lawsuit, only two remain: breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

For the trust claim, Musk’s lawyers will argue that the roughly $38 million he donated to OpenAI formed a charitable trust that required the enterprise to remain a nonprofit in perpetuity.

For the unjust enrichment claim, Musk’s attorneys will try to prove that OpenAI, Altman and Brockman used those contributions for unauthorized commercial purposes.

Musk, Altman and Brockman are inside the courtroom

I just took my seat inside the courtroom. Musk, Altman and Brockman are here for the proceedings, and all three of them are wearing suit and tie.

Opening arguments will kick off shortly.

Judge Gonzalez Rogers split the trial into two parts. Here’s how it’s structured

Gonzalez Rogers divided the trial into two parts: a liability phase and a remedies phase.

During the liability section, Gonzalez Rogers will determine whether OpenAI, Altman and Brockman are at fault. The jury will weigh in during this phase only, and its verdict will be advisory, which means Gonzalez Rogers will construct the final decision.

If the liability phase is decided in Musk’s favor, the trial will proceed to the remedies phase. Gonzalez Rogers will hear arguments about what the appropriate consequences and next steps should be. Jurors will not participate in this phase, so they won’t hear any discussion about remedies. 

Long lines outside the Oakland courthouse

There is a long line of press, lawyers and members of the public waiting to get inside the federal courthouse before opening arguments begin.

What is Musk asking for?

Musk has sought several different remedies since he filed his lawsuit in 2024. Most recently, he’s asked for Altman and Brockman to be removed from their roles at OpenAI. He’s also asked Gonzalez Rogers to unwind the company’s October recapitalization, which solidified its structure as a nonprofit with a controlling stake in its for-profit business. 

In a January filing, Musk’s lawyers commented he should receive up to $134 billion worth of “wrongful gains.” He has since asked to funnel “all ill-gotten gains” back into the OpenAI charity. 

The jury will not hear any discussion about Musk’s desired outcomes during the trial. Gonzalez Rogers will hear arguments about remedies if OpenAI, Altman and Brockman are found liable. 

Here’s what to expect on Tuesday

Opening arguments will begin today. Attorneys for both parties will have time to present an overview of their case to the jury. 

The court will be in session from 8:30 a.m. PT to 1:40 p.m. PT, Gonzalez Rogers noted Monday. If opening arguments conclude before then, Musk’s lawyers could call their first witness to the stand to testify.

It is not yet known who that witness would be, but both parties submitted their witness lists back in February. Musk’s attorneys named Musk, Brockman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and a number of other executives and researchers.

Musk and Altman spar ahead of court as trial enters its second day Furthermore, experts in dividends note the continued relevance.

CNBC’s Kate Rooney reports on the latest news ahead of the second day of the trial, with Elon Musk expected to take the witness stand.

OpenAI reportedly fails to meet revenue targets ahead of highly-anticipated IPO

Hours after the first day of trial wrapped up, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI is falling short of internal revenue and user growth goals as it eyes an initial public offering later this year.

The report raises concerns about the company’s ability to support spending plans for its massive AI datacenter buildout, which is tied to innovation giants such as Oracle and Nvidia. Shares of chip companies are lower on Tuesday following the report, dragging down the Nasdaq Composite.

OpenAI recently closed a massive $122 billion funding round at a $852 billion valuation.

OpenAI’s updated arrangement with Microsoft arrived as trial began

As court proceedings were getting set to begin on Monday, OpenAI proclaimed a updated wrinkle to its longtime relationship with key investor Microsoft.

As part of a revamped deal, OpenAI can cap the amount of revenue it shares with Microsoft when it comes to ChatGPT — and other — subscriptions. It will also be able to serve its products across any cloud provider. 

The agreement is the latest sign that the two companies are going their own way. In 2024, Microsoft started calling OpenAI a competitor in its financial filings, and the two frenemies have since found themselves battling in various areas.

— Ari Levy

Who is Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers?

Gonzalez Rogers was appointed by former President Barack Obama to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2011. 

She has overseen several high-profile lawsuits involving digital systems companies, including the 2021 antitrust case between Epic Games and Apple. 

During jury selection on Monday, Gonzalez Rogers was firm and made it clear that she intends to stick to a schedule. She cracked a few jokes, seemingly in an effort to construct prospective jurors feel more comfortable.

Gonzalez Rogers got her undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1987, and her law degree from the University of Texas in 1991. This also touches on aspects of investors.

From co-founders to a feud: How a decade changed things

Musk and Altman were close friends when they were among a group of techies who started OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit lab, “to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.” 

Three years later, Musk was out, after a failed effort to acquire OpenAI at his electric vehicle corporation Tesla. Then, in late 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT, and the commercialization race was on. Already backed by Microsoft, OpenAI raised tens of billions of dollars at valuations that have stretched far into the hundreds of billions.

Musk, for his part, founded xAI in 2023 to try and build a competitor to OpenAI, before suing Altman and the lab he helped start the next year.

Since the suit was filed, the two sides have been engaged in a bitter and public war of words, with Musk referring to his ex-friend as “Scam Altman,” and Altman posting in February that he was, “Really excited to get Elon under oath in a few months, Christmas in April!”

Trial kicked off with jury selection on Monday

Nine jurors were seated for the trial after several hours of questioning on Monday.

Gonzalez Rogers and lawyers for both parties asked prospective jurors about their views on AI, Altman and Musk. Many commented they were not familiar with OpenAI or its executives but expressed dislike for Musk, particularly because of his political activities. 

Musk spent more than $250 million to help President Donald Trump win the 2024 election. He also served a chaotic stint as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which aimed to dramatically slash government waste and spending. 

“The reality is the public don’t like him,” Gonzalez Rogers noted during the proceedings on Monday. She noted she is confident that the jurors who were seated will respect the judicial process and the facts of the case.