OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrives at the federal courthouse during proceedings in the trial over Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI in Oakland, California, on May 12, 2026. Altman is expected to take the stand Tuesday in the blockbuster civil trial in California triggered by a lawsuit from the world's richest man Elon Musk against the AI behemoth. Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, alleges that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman misappropriated his $38 million donations when OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit and philanthropic mission to become the for-profit giant behind ChatGPT. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON / AFP via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the witness stand Tuesday to defend his business record in a trial pitting him against Elon Musk, rebutting testimony that disparaged his leadership at a pivotal time for the ChatGPT maker. Musk, the world’s richest man, is seeking Altman’s second ouster from the company leadership as part of a civil lawsuit accusing him of betraying their shared vision for OpenAI. Altman testified to a number of concerns he had about Musk’s attempts to gain more control over OpenAI, which was aiming to safely build a better-than-human form of AI called artificial general intelligence.
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