Lawyers for Elon Musk, Sam Altman wind down OpenAI trial with testy parting shots

Nypost · May 14, 2026 · 877 words · By Marc Vartabedian

Corporate Betrayal vs. Legal Baselessness Personal Conflict between Tech Leaders

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What to know about Corporate Betrayal vs. Legal Baselessness

Lawyers for Elon Musk, Sam Altman wind down OpenAI trial with testy parting shots Elon Musk’s lead attorney wound down the landmark trial of OpenAI on Thursday with a blistering attack — again questioning the trustworthiness of the tech firm’s CEO Sam Altman…

Claims checked 13

Techniques found 3

Topics 2

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

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

What happened

Why it matters

In his closing arguments, Musk lawyer Steven Molo conjured a vivid scenario to try to drive home allegations that Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman betrayed the firm’s founding contract by putting commercial gain over creating AI for public benefit.

Common ground

“Imagine that you’re on a hike, and you come upon one of those wooden bridges that you see on a trail and it’s over a gorge,” Molo said inside an Oakland, Calif., federal courtroom.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling, 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 Corporate Betrayal vs. Legal Baselessness story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Along with Altman, Brockman and Musk, the trial featured testimony from Musk advisor and romantic partner Shivon Zillis, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella?
How does this story connect Corporate Betrayal vs. Legal Baselessness with Personal Conflict between Tech Leaders over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/business/lawyers-for-elon-musk-sam-altman-wind-dow…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 3 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.

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Name Calling / Labeling 90% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

Why it matters: Recognizing name calling / labeling helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Ad Hominem 85% 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 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7

schedule Pending 3

verified Verified By Reference 3

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Claim 1: “Along with Altman, Brockman and Musk, the trial featured testimony from Musk advisor and romantic partner Shivon Zillis, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results confirm that Satya Nadella and Ilya Sutskever were set to testify or did testify in the trial.

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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly set to testify Monday in the landmark battle over artificial intelligence in Oakland. Monday marks the start of week three of testimony. OpenAI CEO Sam Altm…
https://abc7news.com/live-updates/elon-musk-sam-altman-live-…

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web search NEUTRAL — The OpenAI trial has begun, kicking off a showdown between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. Elon Musk testified for two hours on Tuesday.
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-sam-altman-openai-…

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web search NEUTRAL — The trial is expected to wrap in the coming week after jurors hear from the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, and former OpenAI employee and wunderkind Ilya Sutskever.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/09/elon-musk…

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Claim 2: “Microsoft’s lead counsel Russell Cohen, who recapped the software giant’s defense”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results identify Russell Cohen as Microsoft's lead counsel in the litigation.

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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft's lawyer Russell Cohen made the third opening argument.Yesterday Microsoft and OpenAI announced they were ending their exclusive partnership specifically to clean up the corporate structure …
https://intheworldofai.com/p/openai-elon-wants-130-billion

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web search NEUTRAL — This line of inquiry correlated with questions posed by Russell Cohen, Microsoft’s lead counsel, who sought to illustrate that Musk’s litigation was initiated only after competition within the artific…
https://thecsrjournal.in/musk-under-fire-in-openai-trial-as-…

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web search NEUTRAL — Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, is named as a co-defendant for allegedly aiding and abetting that breach. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has split the trial into a liability phase, expected to wra…
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/morning/musk-vs-openai-go…

schedule

Claim 3: “Jurors were set to begin deliberations Monday.”

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.

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Claim 4: “Musk lawyer Steven Molo conjured a vivid scenario to try to drive home allegations that Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman betrayed the firm’s founding contract”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources identify Steven Molo as Elon Musk's lawyer in the OpenAI trial.

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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 — Elon Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo.Credit...Jason Henry for The New York Times.Elon Musk’s second day testifying at trial was far from boring. The court heard several hours of testimony about the creatio…
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/29/technology/openai-tr…

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk testifies in the high-stakes OpenAI trial, framing his lawsuit as a defence of charitable giving and AI ethics. Read more at straitstimes.com.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/musk-lawyer…

+ 1 more evidence source

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Claim 5: “is seeking about $150 billion in damages and a court order unwinding OpenAI’s for-profit status.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm Musk is seeking over $150 billion in damages.

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk is seeking more than $150 billion in damages and a complete shake-up of OpenAI. The outcome could have big consequences for the artificial intelligence industry.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/business/dealbook/musk-al…

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web search NEUTRAL — In $150 Billion Case Against OpenAI, Elon Musk To Testify In Court Today. In testimony, Elon Musk criticised the 2019 decision by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and its President Greg Brockman to create a for-…
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sam-altman-vs-elon-musk-open…

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk’s $150 billion courtroom fight with OpenAI is forcing a jury to decide whether the creator of ChatGPT betrayed its non‑profit soul in the race for AI dominance.
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-openai-lawsuit-ai-future…

verified

Claim 6: “Musk — who donated $38 million to OpenAI years before launching his own high-profile artificial intelligence project, xAI”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Multiple independent news sources (NBC, CNBC, Axios, BBC) confirm Musk donated approximately $38 million to OpenAI.

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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 — 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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+ 5 more evidence sources

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Claim 7: “The majority of OpenAI’s employees signed a letter demanding his reinstatement at the time”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (Wired, NPR/Web search) report that a majority of OpenAI employees signed a letter demanding Altman's reinstatement.

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman at OpenAI's November developers' day conference. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images). An overwhelming majority of OpenAI's 700-plus employees have signed an open letter urging OpenAI's boa…
https://www.axios.com/2023/11/20/openai-staff-letter-board-r…

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web search NEUTRAL — More than 730 employees of OpenAI have signed a letter saying they may quit and join Sam Altman at Microsoft unless the startup’s board resigns and reappoints the ousted CEO. Sam Altman speaks during …
https://www.wired.com/story/openai-staff-walk-protest-sam-al…

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web search NEUTRAL — A majority of OpenAI's employees have signed a letter threatening to leave the company unless the board reinstates Sam Altman as CEO and steps down.More than 500 of OpenAI's roughly 770 employees dema…
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/openais-employees-rev…

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Claim 8: “Joshua Achiam, who memorably testified Wednesday that Musk called him a “jackass” at a company-wide meeting years ago.”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web search results confirm that Joshua Achiam testified on Wednesday that Musk called him a 'jackass'.

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web search NEUTRAL — An OpenAI executive has testified that Musk once called him a ‘jackass’ during a heated debate about AI safety and the future of AGI. Joshua Achiam, OpenAI’s chief futurist, spoke about the incident w…
https://www.digit.in/news/general/openai-exec-claims-elon-mu…

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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI exec Joshua Achiam testified about a "tense exchange" he had with Elon Musk in 2018.Musk, Achiam told the jury in the Musk v. Altman trial, called him a "jackass."The two clashed over AI safety…
https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-executive-recalls-elo…

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Claim 9: “entries from Brockman’s diary were displayed. The document showed him musing about becoming a billionaire and converting OpenAI to a for-profit entity, writing in 2017, “Financially what will take me to $1B?””

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.

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Claim 10: “Elon Musk’s lead attorney wound down the landmark trial of OpenAI on Thursday”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results confirm that closing arguments in the Musk v OpenAI trial began on a Thursday.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Elon Reeve Musk ( EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and public official known for his leadership of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

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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 — 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

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 11: “The Tesla CEO, who left OpenAI’s board in 2018, was in Beijing for President Trump’s summit with his Chinese counterpart.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Multiple cross-references (NBC, EuroNews, Al Jazeera, CNBC) confirm Musk left the OpenAI board in 2018.

menu_book

+ 5 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 12: “Altman’s days-long ouster from the organization in 2023.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and other news sources confirm Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI in November 2023 for a few days.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — On November 17, 2023, OpenAI's board of directors ousted co-founder and chief executive Sam Altman. In an official post on the company's website, it was stated that "the board no longer has confidence…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_Sam_Altman_from_Ope…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman has been fired from OpenAI, Inc., the 501(c)(3) nonprofit that acts as the governing body for OpenAI, the AI startup behind ChatGPT, DALL-E 3, GPT-4 and other highly capable generative AI s…
https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/17/sam-altman-is-out-as-opena…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman speaks at the OpenAI DevDay event on Nov. 6, in San Francisco. He has been reinstated as OpenAI's chief executive, days after being ousted by its board of directors.
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/21/1214257786/boomerang-ceo-foun…

schedule

Claim 13: “his social media broadsides, including calling the OpenAI CEO “Scam Altman,” drew a rebuke from US District 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.

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.