14/05/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | MAY 14, 2026

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Altman denies betraying Musk, defends profit move o Trial could shape OpenAI’s future as company eyes possible US$1 trillion valuation

OAKLAND: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday rejected Elon Musk’s claim that he betrayed the ChatGPT maker’s founding mission to serve the public good, and said it was Musk who was interested in seizing control of OpenAI and making money from it. In an August 2024 lawsuit, Musk accused Altman and OpenAI of persuading him into giving US$38 million (RM149 million), only to see the nonprofit abandon its mission to benefit humanity and instead become a for-profit corporation. The trial, now in its third week, may determine the future of OpenAI and its leadership, as it prepares for a possible initial public offering that could value the business at US$1 trillion. Under questioning from his lawyer in the Oakland, California federal court, Altman denied Musk’s contention that he and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, who is also a defendant, tried to “steal a charity.” Altman said, “it feels difficult to even wrap my head around that framing,” and that he hoped that “as OpenAI continues to do well, the nonprofit will do even better.” Lawyers for Musk have sought to portray Altman as a liar about his plan for OpenAI. Musk testified early in the trial: “If you have someone who is not trustworthy in charge of AI, I think that’s a very big danger for the whole world.” The trial marks a clash among tech giants, with Musk portraying himself as a defender of ordinary people from the perils of artificial intelligence (AI) and Silicon Valley titans who care more about money. Musk, the world’s richest person, is seeking about US$150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, a major investor, to be paid to an OpenAI nonprofit. He also wants Altman and Brockman removed from their roles. OpenAI was co-founded in 2015 by several entrepreneurs, including Musk and Altman. It has said Musk knew about the for-profit plan before leaving its board in 2018, and is suing because he regrets missing out on potential riches. In a sign of Trump’s focus on business, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang boarded Air Force One during a stopover in Alaska, with Tesla’s Elon Musk also travelling on the presidential plane to China. “I will be asking President Xi, a leader of extraordinary distinction, to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” Trump wrote on social media after departing Washington. A host of other top CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook, will also be in Beijing for the visit, the first by a US president to China in nearly a decade. But Trump’s ambitions to ramp up trade will have to contend with political frictions over Taiwan and the war in the Middle East, which already delayed the trip from March. As he departed the White House, Trump said he expected a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China. But he also downplayed disagreements, telling reporters that “I don’t think we need any help with Iran” from China and that Xi had been “relatively good” on the topic. Yet Beijing is growing impatient for peace, with China’s foreign minister urging his Pakistani counterpart on Tuesday to step up mediation efforts between Iran and the US. This week’s trip – the first since Trump visited Beijing in 2017 – will involve highly anticipated talks with Xi on Thursday and Friday, as well as lavish pomp and ceremony. The packed itinerary includes a state banquet in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People

business?” Molo asked Altman. “I believe I am an honest and trustworthy business person,” Altman responded. “That’s not my question. Have you misled people when you do business?” “I do not think so.” Altman also testified about his brief ouster from OpenAI in 2023, when its board challenged his candor and defended its need to benefit humanity. He said he considered not returning and moving to Microsoft, but OpenAI meant too much to him. “I was willing to run back into a burning building to save it,” he said. Altman does not own OpenAI equity directly, but has a stake in a fund invested in the company. Molo showed jurors a document listing Altman’s investments in several companies, including a US$1.7 billion stake in fusion power producer Helion Energy. He challenged Altman’s involvement in negotiating transactions with those companies, alleging they posed conflicts of interest. The trial comes after OpenAI raised hundreds of billions of dollars from large technology companies and investors to add computing power. Altman said OpenAI raised US$175 billion from private investors across its lifetime. Musk’s departure sparked mixed feelings

OpenAI created a for-profit entity in March 2019. Asked by his lawyer William Savitt whether Musk opposed the for-profit plan, Altman said “quite the opposite.” Altman recalled Musk once demanding a 90% stake in OpenAI, and said he was “extremely uncomfortable” with ceding majority control even as Musk lessened his demands. “I had quite a lot of experience with startups, had seen a lot of control fights,” he said, citing Musk’s SpaceX as an example where founders of well-performing companies consolidated power to ensure permanent control. Altman also said that while he and other OpenAI leaders wanted to stay on Musk’s good side, he balked at a merger with Tesla, Musk’s electric car company. “I don’t think we would have had the ability to ensure that (our) mission was acted on,” he said. “Fundamentally, Tesla needs to serve its customers and sell cars.” During a contentious cross-examination, Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo challenged Altman’s honesty. He cited testimony from a former OpenAI board member that Altman fostered a “toxic culture of lying,” and from seven former OpenAI officials who said Altman wasn’t trustworthy. “Have you misled people when you do

within OpenAI, Altman said, with some people worried it might impede funding, while others were relieved to be freed of Musk’s demand that researchers regularly defend their progress. “I don’t think Mr Musk understood how to run a good research lab,” Altman said. “He had demotivated some of our most key researchers.” OpenAI’s chairman Bret Taylor testified separately on Tuesday that OpenAI received a formal takeover offer from a consortium led by Musk’s rival company xAI in February 2025, six months after Musk sued. “I was surprised,” Taylor said. “This proposal was to acquire this non-profit by a group of for profit investors, which felt contradictory to the spirit of the lawsuit.” Testimony may conclude this week, and jurors could begin deliberating whether the defendants are liable by May 18. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who oversees the trial, would determine any remedies. In earlier testimony, former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever testified that he spent about a year gathering evidence for OpenAI directors about Altman’s “consistent pattern of lying,” while Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called his company’s investment a “calculated risk.” Others who have testified include Brockman and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who is also mother to four of Musk’s children. – Reuters BRUSSELS: The EU could force railway companies to sell rivals’tickets on their websites and share data with booking platforms under plans to be unveiled yesterday aiming to boost train travel, sources said. Brussels wants to improve rail connection across Europe to cut carbon emissions from air transport. But dreams of seamless cross-country journeys rub up against a fragmented network broken into national systems that critics say create hurdles and pushes up costs. Passengers often have to buy tickets from different operators to patch together a multi country journey. The European Commission is seeking to change with new rules aimed at ensuring that travellers can buy a single ticket on a single platform for such trips. But the proposal is fiercely opposed by railway operators – often publicly-run national champions – which could hamper its chances to become law as it is. “Booking cross-border train journeys within Europe is still unnecessarily complicated,“ said Vivien Costanzo, a centre-left EU lawmaker. “A European rail system needs simple bookings, reliable connections, and clear rights for passengers. Only then will rail become a genuine European alternative to short-haul flights.” Train tickets in Europe are currently largely bought from national rail operators, according to advocacy group Transport & Environment. These operators often dominate the local market and have little incentive to open up their ticketing platforms to competitors, critics say. – AFP EU plans simpler train travel with one-ticket rule

Trump to press Xi to ‘open’ China during Beijing visit BEIJING: US President Donald Trump said he would ask Xi Jinping to “open up” China to American firms as he headed to Beijing yesterday for a high-stakes summit that will also bring up the Iran war. “It’s definitely a big deal,“ said Wen Wen, a 24-year-old woman

travelling from the eastern city of Nanjing, when asked by AFP about Trump’s visit. “Some progress will certainly be made,“ she said, noting that she hopes China and the US can ensure “lasting peace” despite “recent instability in the global situation”. The US and China have long sought to stabilise their relationship despite increasingly seeing each other as adversaries in

Both leaders expected to discuss tariffs, rare earth exports, AI rivalry and geopolitical tensions during the closely watched summit. – PEXELS PIX

trade and geopolitics. Trump has repeatedly touted a strong personal relationship with Xi, which he insisted on Monday would prevent a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. “I think we’ll be fine. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. He knows I don’t want that to happen,“ he said. Trump’s trip will be closely scrutinised by Taiwan and Asian allies for any sign of weakening US support. Beijing has grown more confident and assertive since Trump’s 2017 trip and the US president finds himself in a weakened position as he seeks a way out of his Iran war. But the summit also comes at an uncertain time for China’s economy, which has struggled in recent years with sluggish domestic spending and a protracted debt crisis in the once-booming property sector.

and a tea reception. Trump said Monday he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, the self governing democracy claimed by China – a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on its support to the island. China’s controls on rare earth exports, AI rivalry and the countries’ raucous trade relationship are also among the topics expected to be taken up by the heads of the world’s top two economies. The two sides are set to discuss extending a one-year truce in their tariff war, which Trump and Xi reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October. The tense buildup to the superpower summit was already visible on the streets of Beijing, with police monitoring major intersections and checking the ID cards of passengers on the metro, AFP journalists saw.