Elon Musk gets testy on the stand: ‘I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it’ | Flipboard

Flipboard · May 01, 2026 · 315 words · By Fortune; The Associated Press

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What to know about Elon Musk gets testy on the stand: ‘I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it’

The article provides multiple snippets and headlines related to Elon Musk's testimony in a lawsuit against OpenAI. It reports that during his third day of testimony, Musk sparred with OpenAI's attorney, William Savitt, and made statements regarding his funding and relationship with the company. The snippets also include general AI industry news, such as comparisons between ChatGPT and Claude.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 8

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

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

What happened

Elon Musk gets testy on the stand: ‘I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it’ Elon Musk on Thursday sparred with an attorney for OpenAI during his third day of testimony in the contentious trial over the company’s pivot from … Related…

Why it matters

The stakes turn on whether readers accept that The tense day three of Musk v. Altman saw OpenAI’s lead attorney William Savitt use Musk’s own emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit is a competitive grievan.

Common ground

The clearest point to anchor on is this: The tense day three of Musk v. Altman saw OpenAI’s lead attorney William Savitt use Musk’s own emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit is a competitive grievance dressed as a charitable principle.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Elon Musk gets testy on the stand: ‘I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it’?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that The tense day three of Musk v. Altman saw OpenAI’s lead attorney William Savitt use Musk’s own emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit is a competitive grievance dressed as a charitable principle?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://flipboard.com/topic/news/elon-musk-gets-testy-on-the-stand-i-thought-i-h…

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 90%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4

info Single Source 4

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Claim 1: “The tense day three of Musk v. Altman saw OpenAI’s lead attorney William Savitt use Musk’s own emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit is a competitive grievance dressed as a charitable principle.”

CORROBORATED

The claim is reported by multiple independent sources (cross-references and web search results) detailing the specific actions of William Savitt on Day 3 of the trial, including the use of Musk's emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit was a competitive grievance. This consistency across different search results confirms the core narrative.

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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

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web search NEUTRAL — The tense day three of Musk v. Altman saw OpenAI’s lead attorney William Savitt use Musk’s own emails, pledge shortfalls, and Shivon Zilis texts to argue the lawsuit is a…Elon Musk called himself “a f…
https://technewstube.com/the-next-web/1827911/musk-calls-him…

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI’s counsel, William Savitt, has needled Musk on whether he read the document in full. Musk responded that he got the gist by reading the top of the document. Savitt seemed to be intentionally pr…
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/29/technology/openai-tr…

+ 2 more evidence sources

info

Claim 2: “On Thursday, he took the …”

SINGLE SOURCE

While multiple sources mention 'Thursday' in relation to the trial (cross-references, web search), the evidence provided is highly repetitive and contains irrelevant information (e.g., Wikipedia entries about Elon University or Talulah Riley). The sources do not independently confirm the specific fact that Musk testified on Thursday, making it difficult to confirm the claim with multiple independent reports.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Elon Musk has been actively involved in politics, particularly in the United States and Europe, throughout the majority of his business career. Despite historically donating to and voting for both Dem…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_Elon_M…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Talulah Jane Riley-Milburn (born 26 September 1985) is an English actress. She has appeared in films, including Pride & Prejudice (2005), St Trinian's (2007) and its sequel St Trinian's 2: The Legend …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talulah_Riley

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Elon Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter in October 2022; Musk acted as CEO of Twitter until June 2023 when he was succeeded by Linda Yaccarino. Twitter was rebranded to X on July 23, 2023, and …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_under_Elon_Musk

+ 4 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “And in its first week, dominated by the world's richest man taking the stand in a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., Musk v. Altman …”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that the Musk v. Altman trial took place at a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, and that the proceedings began in the first week, confirming the location and timing of the lawsuit's initial phase.

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, and President Greg Brockman as photographed through the windows of the federal courthouse in Oakland as they arrived for jury selection in Elon Musk's lawsuit ...
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/musk-v-altman-inside-the-court…

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk is seen through glass at the Ronald V. Dellums US Courthouse in Oakland, California, passing through security as he continues his testimony in the OpenAI vs. Musk trial on April 29, 2026.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/05/01/inside-op…

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web search NEUTRAL — The Musk v. Altman trial kicked off at a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, with jury selection followed by opening arguments.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/27/musk-altman-trial-openai-jur…

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Claim 4: “Elon Musk spent three days testifying as the first witness in his trial against OpenAI.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Elon Musk testified over multiple days in his trial against OpenAI. Specifically, one cross-reference mentions him testifying for three days, and web search results reference 'Day 3' and 'second day' of the trial, confirming the multi-day nature of his testimony.

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web search NEUTRAL — The third day of Elon Musk’s testimony in his high-stakes trial against OpenAI began with a bout of bickering over whether AI could lead to the “extinction” of the human race.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/elon-musk-testimony-d…

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web search NEUTRAL — In the second day of a trial pitting Mr. Musk against OpenAI, he said the company’s chief executive, Sam Altman, had misled him. But OpenAI’s lawyer said evidence showed the opposite.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/technology/musk-openai-tr…

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web search NEUTRAL — But Musk testified that his confidence in OpenAI’s leaders began to slip. Musk told Altman in 2022 that OpenAI’s $20 billion valuation following Microsoft’s $10 billion investment felt like a “bait an…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/30/tech/takeaways-elon-musk-open…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 5: “Elon Musk gets testy on the stand: ‘I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it’”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim that Elon Musk stated, 'I thought I had started a nonprofit with OpenAI but they stole it,' is reported by multiple sources (cross-references, web search), but the evidence provided does not contain enough independent, distinct news reports to reach 'corroborated' status. The web search results and cross-references appear to be reporting the same core event from the same narrative angle, making it difficult to confirm multiple independent reporting sources.

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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 — 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 Musk family is a prominent family with roots in South Africa, Canada, England, and the United States, whose most famous member is businessman and entrepreneur Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_family

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 6: “Elon Musk faced a contentious cross-examination on Thursday, asserting he was assured by OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman that the artificial …”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim that Sam Altman assured Musk about the AI venture on Thursday is mentioned in the web search results, but the evidence is not corroborated by multiple independent news organizations. The sources provide context but do not independently confirm this specific assurance from Sam Altman.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — X, formerly known as Twitter, is an American microblogging and social networking service, headquartered in Bastrop, Texas. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-v…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_(social_network)

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “Elon Musk called himself “a fool” for funding OpenAI, accused its …”

CORROBORATED

The claim that Elon Musk called himself 'a fool' for funding OpenAI is reported by two separate cross-reference sources and is consistent with the narrative found in the web search results, confirming the statement was made publicly during the proceedings.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Elon Musk called himself “a fool” for funding OpenAI, accused its …
https://flipboard.com/topic/news/elon-musk-gets-testy-on-the…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Tech billionaire Elon Musk has charged that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman “stole a charity” and called himself a “fool” for funding the company, claiming that the ChatGPT maker had strayed from its original n…
https://www.rt.com/news/639301-musk-openai-trial/

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Claim 8: “ChatGPT is still the most popular AI chatbot around, even with the exodus that's underway to Claude, but is it the cleverest? A new report from …”

SINGLE SOURCE

While multiple web search results discuss ChatGPT's popularity and competition with Claude, the evidence does not provide a single, authoritative, or consistently cited report that definitively states it is 'still the most popular' despite the exodus. The sources offer general market commentary but lack the necessary independent confirmation to elevate the verdict beyond single_source.

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web search NEUTRAL — The best AI chatbot is ChatGPT for most users, thanks to its accuracy, flexibility, and wide feature set—but Claude and Perplexity are strong contenders too.The best free chat AI is ChatGPT, though Cl…
https://www.getguru.com/reference/best-ai-apps

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web search NEUTRAL — We are excited to introduce ChatGPT to get users’ feedback and learn about its strengths and weaknesses. During the research preview, usage of ChatGPT is free. Try it now at chatgpt.com(opens in a new…
https://openai.com/index/chatgpt/

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web search NEUTRAL — ChatGPT MAU (Monthly Active Users). ChatGPT recorded more than 5.35 billion monthly visits in 2026. However, these are traffic numbers, not unique users.
https://www.demandsage.com/chatgpt-statistics/

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.