30/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | APR 30, 2026

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Musk says OpenAI was his idea before it was ‘looted’

OAKLAND: Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stakes trial over the future of OpenAI, casting his lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker as a defence of charitable giving. The world’s richest person is suing OpenAI, its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman and its president Greg Brockman, saying they betrayed him and the public by abandoning OpenAI’s mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for humanity, and transforming the nonprofit into a profit-seeking juggernaut. “If we make it OK to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed,” Musk testified on the first day of the trial. “That’s my concern.” Musk, who founded automaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, characterised OpenAI as his brainchild as well. “I came up with the idea, the name, recruited the key people, taught them everything I know, provided all of the initial funding,” Musk said. “It was specifically meant to be for a charity that does not benefit any individual person. I could’ve started it as for a profit and I specifically chose not to.” Before Musk began testifying, William Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI and Altman, told jurors during his opening statement it was Musk who saw dollar signs as he helped finance OpenAI’s early growth and pushed it to become a for-profit business, one he might eventually lead as CEO. Savitt said Musk wanted “the keys to the kingdom,” and sued only after he failed. In 2023, he started his own AI business, xAI, now part of SpaceX. “What he cares about is Elon Musk being on top,” Savitt said in his opening statement. “We are here because Mr Musk didn’t get his way.” OpenAI’s lawyer also framed OpenAI’s March 2019 creation of a for-profit entity as critical to letting it buy computing power and pay top

o Trial shines spotlight on power struggle behind ChatGPT creator

Rogers said she was loath to issue a gag order, but urged Musk to “try to control your propensity to use social media to make things work outside the courtroom … Perhaps you’ve never done that before.” Musk agreed to minimise his social media activity, and Altman similarly agreed. Altman and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella are also expected to testify. The trial offers a window into some of the egos and personalities that shaped OpenAI as it evolved from a nonprofit research lab in Brockman’s apartment to a company worth more than US$850 billion. It also risks complicating OpenAI’s plans for a potential initial public offering by casting doubt on its leadership, and could intensify Americans’ fears about AI technology more broadly. Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google. Musk testified that “I’ve had extreme concerns about AI for a very long time,” and focused more intently on it after meetings with former US president Barack Obama and Google didn’t address AI’s risks. “I was very close friends with Larry Page at Google,” Musk testified, referring to Google’s co-founder. “We would talk for many hours about AI

scientists to stay competitive with Google’s DeepMind AI lab. Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo told jurors in his opening statement it was the OpenAI defendants who were greedy for money, as OpenAI began drawing investors including Microsoft, which invested US$10 billion (RM39 billion) in January 2023. “It wasn’t a vehicle for people to get rich,” Molo said. Musk is expected to resume his testimony yesterday. Musk is seeking US$150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI’s charitable arm. He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, with Altman and Brockman removed as officers and Altman removed from its board. Musk’s claims include breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment. While Musk described OpenAI as a charity, the organisation called itself a nonprofit artificial intelligence research company in a 2015 post “Introducing OpenAI.” Before jurors were seated, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers admonished Musk after OpenAI lawyers complained about his posts on X on Monday, in which he assailed Altman as “Scam Altman” and accused him of stealing a charity.

Musk reacts at a federal courthouse during a recess of the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion, in Oakland, California. – REUTERSPIX

do anything wrong, and has been “a responsible partner every step of the way.” OpenAI also faces growing competition from rivals including Anthropic, and is spending billions on computational resources. A potential IPO could value the company at US$1 trillion, Reuters has reported. Musk’s xAI trails far behind OpenAI in usage. He has folded that business into SpaceX, whose own potential IPO this year could be the largest ever. Late last year, OpenAI overhauled its structure again to become a public benefit corporation, in which the nonprofit and other investors including Microsoft hold stakes. The nonprofit holds a 26% stake, plus warrants if OpenAI hits certain valuation targets. – Reuters decisions,“ Petersson said. When he saw the ad, Grzelczak first thought it was a joke, especially since it had been posted on April 1. But after a 30-minute interview with the AI, he got the job. The salary he receives is good but his right to disconnect from work is not respected at all, the barista remarked. “Mona” sends him messages at all hours of the night, does not remember his holiday requests and regularly asks him to cover purchases out of his own pocket. Examining such issues are part of the experiment, Petersson noted. “What salary did she decide on? What other benefits did she decide on? I think she did a good job. She gives a good salary. If she hadn’t, we would have stepped in,“ she said. The cafe has only been open for a week but already draws between 50 and 80 curious customers a day. Urja Risal, a 27-year-old AI researcher, came by to enjoy a beverage with her friend. “You hear so much about AI is about to take our jobs but what does that look like,“ Risal told AFP. “I hope more people interact with ‘Mona’and think about the actual risks of having an AI manager... like if someone gets injured, how would Mona react to that?” she said.

safety. At a certain point it was clear to me Larry Page was not sufficiently caring about AI ... We had to have a counterpoint against Google.” Savitt, in his opening statement, said AI safety wasn’t a priority for Musk, and that Musk denigrated OpenAI employees who focused on it. “Jackasses is what he called them,” Savitt said. Musk has said he provided about US$38 million to OpenAI for its original mission, and testified he flexed his connections to provide computing capacity, personally approaching Nadella as well as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. OpenAI created its for-profit entity 13 months after Musk left its board. Russell Cohen, a lawyer for Microsoft, said in his opening statement that the company didn’t

Experimental cafe run by AI opens in Stockholm STOCKHOLM: The avocado toasts and baristas making foamy lattes make it look like any other cafe, except at this one, located in a Stockholm residential neighbourhood, artificial intelligence (AI) is running the place. The cafe features a minimalist design: a few tables decorated with small plants and grey walls.

Behind the counter is barista Kajetan Grzelczak who was hired by “Mona”, the AI cafe manager – which is powered by Google’s Gemini. Grzelczak told AFP that “ordering isn’t really her best suit”. “So, I made for her... a wall of shame,“ he said, pointing to shelves behind him. The wall display showcases some of Mona’s unnecessary purchases, including 10 litres of cooking oil or 15kg of canned tomatoes. Grzelczak laments that he can’t use those for anything that“Mona”has put on the menu. Orders can either be placed with Mona or one of the employees. In one corner, a large screen shows the cafe’s revenue and balance in real time, and a phone lets customers talk to Mona. The screen also displays a description of the unusual cafe – which is an experiment by San Francisco-based startup Andon Labs. “We think that AI will be a big part

Petersson speaks with ‘Mona’, running on Google Gemini, at the Andon Café in Stockholm. – AFPPIX of the society and the job market in the future,“ Hanna Petersson, a member of the technical team at the company, which has 10 employees, told AFP. AI employs human beings,“ she explained. Once the premises were found, the lease, along with some starting capital, was handed to the AI with a simple mission: run the cafe profitably.

created the menu, found suppliers, and handled daily restocking. The AI also realised that a person was needed to make the coffee and ended up hiring two people. “She posted job listings on Indeed and LinkedIn and held phone interviews and then made hiring

“We want to test that before that’s the reality and see what ethical questions arise when, for example, an

“Mona” quickly got to work, requested the necessary permits,