OpenAI intensified after Satya Nadella took the witness stand to defend the company’s transition into a for-profit venture, according to a report by The New York Times.
Musk sued OpenAI over claims that the company abandoned its original nonprofit mission after securing billions of dollars in investments from Microsoft. The Tesla chief is seeking $150 billion in damages, the removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI’s board, and the reversal of the company’s corporate restructuring.
During testimony in a federal court in Oakland, California, Nadella said he did not believe OpenAI violated its founding principles when it created a for-profit arm.
“It has always been my view that the nonprofit approved the creation of the for-profit so that they could pursue the mission,” Nadella said.
The report said Musk later amended the lawsuit to include Microsoft, accusing the company of helping OpenAI abandon its original nonprofit structure.
The New York Times also reported that Nadella acknowledged helping Altman return to OpenAI after the chief executive was briefly removed by the company’s board in 2023, describing the board’s actions as “amateur hour.”
Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever also testified, saying he initially voted to remove Altman because he was “not completely candid” with executives and board members, but later feared the decision could destroy the company.
According to the report, Sutskever also said Musk previously doubted OpenAI’s chances of success, telling the company in 2018 it had a “zero percent chance of success” due to the massive computing power needed to develop artificial general intelligence.