OpenAI boss Sam Altman says Musk wanted control of company

Deutsche Welle · 🇩🇪 public Germany · May 12, 2026 · 614 words · By Kate Hairsine

Corporate Control vs. Public Good Personal Credibility and Trustworthiness Nonprofit vs. For-profit AI Development

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What to know about Corporate Control vs. Public Good

OpenAI boss Sam Altman says Musk wanted control of company May 13, 2026OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman has taken the witness stand in a high-stakes trial pitting some of the world's richest technology tycoons against each other.

Claims checked 14

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

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

What happened

Why it matters

Testifying on Tuesday, Altman rejected Elon Musk's claim that he betrayed the company's founding mission to serve the public good.

Common ground

Altman said it was rather Musk, the world's richest person, who was interested in seizing control of the artificial intelligence startup.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling: 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 Control vs. Public Good story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by several entrepreneurs, including Musk and Altman?
How does this story connect Corporate Control vs. Public Good with Personal Credibility and Trustworthiness over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dw.com/en/sam-altman-trial-openai-elon-musk/a-77139248?maca=en-rss-e…

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

Name Calling / Labeling 70% 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.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 7

schedule Pending 4

verified Verified By Reference 3

verified

Claim 1: “OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by several entrepreneurs, including Musk and Altman.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and official OpenAI sources confirm the company was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and others.

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wikipedia 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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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 — Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur who has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI since 2019. Altman attended Stanford…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman has taken the witness stand in a high-stakes trial”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results from different news outlets (AFP, Reuters, Associated Press) confirm that Sam Altman took the witness stand in the Oakland trial.

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI’s Sam Altman takes stand to defend against Elon Musk allegations. Altman is defending himself against Musk’s claims that he’s trying to enrich himself at the expense of OpenAI’s original nonpro…
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/sam-altman-takes-stan…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman faces heat as he takes witness stand in landmark OpenAI trial: ‘Are you completely trustworthy?’Sam Altman says Elon Musk tried to ‘kill’ OpenAI, in tense courtroom showdown. 3 hours ago. B…
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman testified in trial that could determine the future of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT , was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 by several entrepreneurs, includ…
https://www.dw.com/en/sam-altman-trial-openai-elon-musk/a-77…

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Claim 3: “Musk, who is now also an AI player with xAI and its Grok chatbot”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia confirms Elon Musk's leadership of xAI and the development of the Grok chatbot.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Grok is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by SpaceXAI. It was launched in November 2023 by Elon Musk as an initiative based on the large language model (LLM) of the same name. Gro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok_(chatbot)

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — From 2025 onwards, X (formerly Twitter)'s integrated chatbot, Grok, has allowed users to nonconsensually alter images of individuals, including minors, to show them in bikinis or transparent clothing,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok_sexual_deepfake_scandal

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — SpaceXAI is a division of American aerospace company SpaceX working in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), social media and technology. The division's flagship products are the generative AI cha…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceXAI

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “He also wants Altman and Brockman removed from their roles.”

CORROBORATED

Although the specific 'Evidence for claim 9' section was empty, the evidence provided for claim 8 explicitly states that Musk is 'asking the court to... remove Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman from leadership.'

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Claim 5: “Musk even said he might pass the company onto his children”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results report Altman's testimony that Musk suggested passing the company to his children.

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web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Tuesday testified that Elon Musk wanted "total control" of the ChatGPT maker — even saying he thought the AI startup should be passed on to his children.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-testifies-elon-mu…

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web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman said Elon Musk tried many times for total control of OpenAI, which he's now suing.Elon Musk tried to take control of OpenAI and went as far as suggesting the company would be passed onto hi…
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj2k2exdzlo

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web search NEUTRAL — Samuel Harris Altman (born April 22, 1985) is an American entrepreneur who has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence company OpenAI since 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman

schedule

Claim 6: “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.”

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 7: “The trial is now in its third 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.

verified

Claim 8: “It established a for-profit subsidiary in 2019.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and OpenAI's own 'Our structure' page confirm the creation of a for-profit subsidiary in 2019.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI o1 is a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), the first in OpenAI's "o" series of reasoning models. A preview of o1 was released by OpenAI on September 12, 2024. o1 spends time "thinking" b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI_o1

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The American artificial intelligence (AI) organization OpenAI has released a variety of products and applications since its founding in 2015.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Products_and_applications_of_O…

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “An early number that Mr Musk threw out was that he should have 90% of the equity to start”

CORROBORATED

Multiple news sources reporting on the trial state that Sam Altman testified that Musk requested 90% equity.

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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

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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 10: “During a cross-examination on Tuesday, Musk's lawyer Steven Molo challenged Altman's honesty.”

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 11: “In the civil lawsuit being tried in a federal court in Oakland, California, Musk accuses Altman, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and the company itself of abandoning its original mission”

CORROBORATED

Web search results and Wikipedia (Musk v. Altman entry) confirm the lawsuit in the Northern District of California (Oakland) against Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI regarding the abandonment of the nonprofit mission.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bret Steven Taylor (born 1980) is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He led the team that co-created Google Maps, was the chief technology officer (CTO) of Facebook (now Meta Platforms)…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Taylor

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nicole Ann Shanahan (born September 26, 1985) is an American attorney and entrepreneur. She was the running mate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his campaign in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Born i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Shanahan

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Tesla, Inc. ( TEZ-lə or TESS-lə) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures, and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 12: “OpenAI's chairperson, 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”

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 13: “Musk is seeking about $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and co-defendant Microsoft”

CORROBORATED

Five independent cross-references (Al Jazeera, CNBC, NY Post) all report the specific figure of $150 billion in damages.

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cross reference SUPPORTS — Musk is seeking $150bn in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/4/28/musk-testifies-a…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — He is seeking $150bn in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/12/sam-altman-says-elo…

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cross reference SUPPORTS — The SpaceX founder is seeking changes to OpenAI's leadership and $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/musk-sought-settlement-with-…

+ 2 more evidence sources

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Claim 14: “Musk's legal case demands that OpenAI revert to nonprofit status.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources, including Al Jazeera and BigGo News, confirm the lawsuit seeks to force OpenAI to revert to nonprofit status.

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web search NEUTRAL — The lawsuit seeks to force OpenAI to revert to its original nonprofit status, remove Altman and Brockman from leadership, and return up to $134 billion in alleged wrongful gains to OpenAI's nonprofit …
https://biggo.com/news/202605010422_Musk-OpenAI-Trial-150B-L…

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web search NEUTRAL — Musk seeks reversion to nonprofit status, removals, and financial remedies directed to charity, while Microsoft faces aiding-and-abetting accusations for facilitating the profit shift.
https://www.fifthrow.com/blog/litigation-at-the-edge-how-the…

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web search NEUTRAL — Musk is seeking $150bn in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, with any award directed to OpenAI’s charitable arm. He is also asking the court to force OpenAI to return to nonprofit status and remove Al…
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/4/29/musk-accuses-alt…

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.