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

Nypost · · 877 words · By Marc Vartabedian
Corporate Betrayal vs. Legal Baselessness Personal Conflict between Tech Leaders
open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/business/lawyers-for-elon-musk-sam-altman-wind-dow…

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
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Name Calling / Labeling 90% confidence
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Ad Hominem 85% confidence
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fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 7
verified Verified By Reference 3
schedule Pending 3
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“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
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“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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“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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“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.
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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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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)
+ 5 more evidence sources
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“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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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
+ 5 more evidence sources
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“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…
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“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.
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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…
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“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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“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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“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…
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“his social media broadsides, including calling the OpenAI CEO “Scam Altman,” drew a rebuke from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers”
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“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?””
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“Jurors were set to begin deliberations Monday.”
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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.