Altman details Musk's OpenAI fallout, says nonprofit was 'left for dead'

Cnbc · May 13, 2026 · 950 words · By Ashley Capoot

Nonprofit vs. For-profit Missions Corporate Governance and Ethics Interpersonal Conflict between Co-founders

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What to know about Nonprofit vs. For-profit Missions

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in the Musk v.

Claims checked 17

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in the Musk v.

Why it matters

Altman trial on Tuesday, where he tried to make his central claim clear to the jury: He didn't steal a charity, but Elon Musk abandoned one.

Common ground

Altman, wearing a blue suit and tie, spoke from the witness stand in federal court in Oakland, California over the course of about four hours.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Ad Hominem: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Nonprofit vs. For-profit Missions story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Musk left OpenAI's board in February of 2018?
How does this story connect Nonprofit vs. For-profit Missions with Corporate Governance and Ethics over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/13/altman-musk-trial-testimony-takeaways.html

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Ad Hominem 70% confidence

Attacking the person making the argument rather than the argument itself.

Why it matters: Recognizing ad hominem helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 17 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 7

check_circle Corroborated 6

info Single Source 4

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Claim 1: “Musk left OpenAI's board in February of 2018.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web sources (The Hundred-Billion-Dollar Diary, The Ringer) confirm that Musk resigned from the OpenAI board in February 2018.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Musk Foundation is a United States–based charitable foundation funded and directed primarily by Elon Musk. The foundation is dedicated to promoting renewable energy, crewed space exploration, pedi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_Foundation

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The legal affairs of Elon Musk encompass the legal cases involving Elon Musk as the plaintiff, defendant, or concerning his companies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_Elon_Musk

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Musk v. Altman is an ongoing lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in which Elon Musk accuses OpenAI and its executives, including CEO Sam Altman, of viol…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_v._Altman

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in the Musk v. Altman trial on Tuesday”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web sources (CNN Business, Google News) confirm that Sam Altman testified in the Musk v. Altman trial on a Tuesday.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Since 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel have been engaged in a war with Iran and its regional allies. The conflict began when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, targeting mili…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Iran_war

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president for a term of four years. In the 2024 elections, then-former preside…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidentia…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The following is a timeline of the second presidency of Donald Trump during the second quarter of 2026, from April 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026. To navigate between quarters, see timeline of the Donald T…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_second_Trump_p…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 3: “Musk testified in April that OpenAI's for-profit subsidiary became the 'tail wagging the dog'”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided web search results for this claim are generic biographies of Elon Musk or unrelated news and do not mention testimony from April regarding the 'tail wagging the dog'.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Reeve Musk (/ ˈiːlɒn / EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and public official known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world sin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

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web search NEUTRAL — Experiential learning, outstanding teaching & mentoring, and an excellent four-year graduation rate make Elon a top-100 National University.
https://www.elon.edu/

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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · Elon Musk, Tim Cook and other high-powered business leaders have been invited to be a part of the U.S. delegation traveling to China this week.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elon-musk-trump-china-us-delega…

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Claim 4: “Musk suggested merging OpenAI with Tesla, his electric automaker”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (Axios, Yahoo Finance, and a report cited by a web search) confirm that Musk proposed merging OpenAI with Tesla.

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI released an email from Musk to prove this chronology of events. Musk forwarded an email from a person whose name has been redacted. In that email, the person explains the logic for merging Open…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/openai-says-elon-musk-tried-m…

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web search NEUTRAL — Zilis testified that between 2017 and 2018, OpenAI's leadership debated different corporate structures extensively, including whether the AI company should evolve into a for-profit business. At one po…
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/openai-tes…

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web search NEUTRAL — — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025.He also proposed a merger of OpenAI and Tesla and said he would be happy to serve as its CEO, according to reports. He wanted to ensure more funds and take Op…
https://favtutor.com/articles/elon-musk-vs-sam-altman-fight-…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 5: “The board said at the time that Altman was 'not consistently candid in his communications' with them.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 6: “Dario Amodei, a former OpenAI employee who went on to found the company's chief rival, Anthropic.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 7: “Musk continued communicating with Altman, Brockman and Sutskever in 2018, months after he formally left the startup's board.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim discusses the founding team and board conflicts but does not specifically confirm that Musk maintained communication with Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever in 2018 after his departure.

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web search NEUTRAL — Brockman met with Sam Altman and Elon Musk, and led the recruiting of the OpenAI founding team.Sutskever supplied the board with a document of alleged bullying by Brockman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Brockman

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman and Elon Musk were the initial board members of OpenAI when it was founded in 2015. (Source: OpenAI-edited). More than 730 employees out of 770 have now threatened to leave OpenAI if the cu…
https://www.notebookcheck.net/OpenAI-on-brink-of-collapse-as…

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web search NEUTRAL — The board included Altman and Brockman, a close ally and OpenAI’s president, but was ultimately controlled by the interests of scientists who worried that the company’s expansion was out of control, m…
https://time.com/6337437/sam-altman-openai-fired-why-microso…

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Claim 8: “He argued that the roughly $38 million he donated to OpenAI was used for unauthorized commercial purposes.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple reports from CNBC confirm that Musk donated roughly $38 million to OpenAI in its early years.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colossus is a supercomputer developed by xAI. Construction began in 2024 in Memphis, Tennessee; the system became operational in July 2024. It is currently the world's largest AI supercomputer. Coloss…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_(supercomputer)

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “Musk, who co-founded OpenAI alongside him in 2015”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent news sources (Deutsche Welle, CNBC, BBC News) confirm that Elon Musk and Sam Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI is a book by Karen Hao released on May 20, 2025. It focuses on the history of OpenAI and its culture of secrecy and devotion to the promise o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_AI

+ 5 more evidence sources

info

Claim 10: “OpenAI established a for-profit subsidiary following Musk's departure, which is now valued at more than $850 billion by private investors.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While Wikipedia confirms the existence of a for-profit PBC structure, there is no corroborating evidence in the provided results regarding the specific valuation of $850 billion.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI Group PBC, doing business as OpenAI, is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization headquartered in San Francisco, consisting of a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI

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web search NEUTRAL — We believe our research will eventually lead to artificial general intelligence, a system that can solve human-level problems. Building safe and beneficial AGI is our mission.
https://openai.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI has 247 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
https://github.com/openai/

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Claim 11: “Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and the company's president, Greg Brockman, in 2024”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (CNBC, Axios, EuroNews) confirm that Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman in 2024.

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+ 5 more evidence sources

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Claim 12: “He offered Altman a Tesla board seat to try and convince him to make the move.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 13: “Altman... spoke from the witness stand in federal court in Oakland, California over the course of about four hours.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided web search results for this claim are irrelevant (referring to SAM.gov and Sam's Club) and do not contain information about the duration or location of the testimony.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Shop Samsclub.com today for Every Day Low Prices. Join Sam's Club as a Plus Member and get free same-day or next-day delivery from your club & free shipping on eligible items totaling $50 or more.
https://www.samsclub.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — GSA recently released a new Federal Assistance Listings API (Application Program Interface) to SAM.gov. Users can use the API to access and consume assistance listings data in bulk.
https://sam.gov/

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web search NEUTRAL — Your Login.gov account does not affect or have any information about your System for Award Management (SAM) account, application, status, membership, or eligibility.
https://login.gov/help/specific-agencies/sam/

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Claim 14: “the final outcome will ultimately rest with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 15: “some of the board members who briefly ousted him from his role at OpenAI in 2023.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 16: “the nine-person jury will begin deliberating next week.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 17: “Musk's lawyer Steven Molo, cross-examined Altman”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.