Sam Altman hits back at Musk in bombshell trial over future of OpenAI: ‘extremely uncomfortable’

Nypost · May 12, 2026 · 651 words · By Marc Vartabedian

AI Safety and Non-profit Mission Corporate Governance and Ethics Interpersonal Conflict

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What to know about AI Safety and Non-profit Mission

Sam Altman hits back at Musk in bombshell trial over future of OpenAI: ‘extremely uncomfortable’ OAKLAND, Calif.

Claims checked 13

Techniques found 3

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center50%

Right50%

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

What happened

Sam Altman hits back at Musk in bombshell trial over future of OpenAI: ‘extremely uncomfortable’ OAKLAND, Calif.

Why it matters

— OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman hit back at Elon Musk’s claims that he “stole” OpenAI when it was a charity and steered the company away from its non-profit mission – claiming that Musk himself was busy vying to control OpenAI in the first years after it…

Common ground

Taking the witness stand for the first time in the landmark trial over OpenAI’s future, Altman on Tuesday recounted one “hair raising” moment during OpenAI’s early days – when several OpenAI co-founders asked Musk what would happen to the company if Musk died…

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling, Smears: 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 AI Safety and Non-profit Mission story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that “I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding to create what would become an $800 billion company.”?
How does this story connect AI Safety and Non-profit Mission with Corporate Governance and Ethics over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/12/business/altman-goes-on-offensive-in-landmark-open…

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.

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.

warning

Smears 70% confidence

Using damaging allegations to undermine a person's reputation.

Why it matters: Recognizing smears 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 4

schedule Pending 3

info Single Source 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

report Misleading 1

cancel Disputed 1

schedule

Claim 1: ““I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding to create what would become an $800 billion company.””

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 2: “Murati said in taped testimony played in court that Altman created an environment where OpenAI executives were pitted against each other”

SINGLE SOURCE

The search results for 'Mira' returned irrelevant results (a city in India, a fertility tracker, and a fictional character), with no mention of Mira Murati's testimony regarding Altman's management style.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mira (Korean: 미라, RR: Mi Ra) is the deuteragonist of KPop Demon Hunters. She is the lead dancer, visual and choreographer of the famous K-Pop girl group HUNTR/X, which also consists of her friends Rum…
https://kpop-demon-hunters.fandom.com/wiki/Mira

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mira-Bhayandar is a city and municipal corporation in Thane district in the state of Maharashtra, India located in the northern part of Salsette Island before the Vasai Creek, and shares a border with…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira-Bhayandar

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The Mira fertility tracker helps you get pregnant faster through actual hormone analysis and personalized ovulation tracking.
https://www.miracare.com/

schedule

Claim 3: “Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever testified on Monday that he spent about a year gathering evidence for the company’s board demonstrating Altman’s “consistent pattern of lying.””

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.

help

Claim 4: “Musk’s lawsuit alleges Altman and OpenAI manipulated him into funding the nonprofit with $38 million”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding the specific claim of $38 million manipulation.

schedule

Claim 5: “The company said Musk walked away from OpenAI after the other co-founders denied his proposals to have majority control.”

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.

help

Claim 6: “OpenAI has argued in court that Musk knew about and at times supported the for-profit plan.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding OpenAI's specific court argument about Musk supporting the for-profit plan.

report

Claim 7: “The San Francisco-based maker of hit AI tool ChatGPT has raised hundreds of billions of dollars from large tech companies and investors”

MISLEADING

The claim states 'hundreds of billions'. However, the NYT evidence states corporations have poured 'tens of billions' into AI generally, and does not confirm OpenAI specifically has raised hundreds of billions.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Companies such as OpenAI are likely to run out of cash before their tantalizing new technology produces big profits.Corporations had poured tens of billions of dollars into A.I., yet only one in 20 pr…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/opinion/openai-ai-bubble-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — How many investors does OpenAI have? OpenAI has a total of 70 investors. 65 are Institutional investors and 5 are Angel investors. Explore latest companies that raised funding recently.
https://tracxn.com/d/companies/openai/__kElhSG7uVGeFk1i71Co9…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI shares have fallen out of favor on the secondary market — in some cases becoming almost impossible to unload — as investors pivot quickly to Anthropic, its biggest competitor.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-01/openai-de…

check_circle

Claim 8: “He is also asking the court to restore OpenAI’s nonprofit status and to remove Altman and Brockman from their roles.”

CORROBORATED

Confirmed by a cross-reference (Nypost) and web search results stating Musk is seeking the restoration of nonprofit status and the removal of Altman and Brockman.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk is seeking the removal of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman from their roles at the company as part of a lawsuit set to go to trial later this month.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/science-technology/elon-musk-seeks-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman and others in 2015, but he left in 2018 after a bitter power struggle. Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s b…
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/04/27/1136466/elon-mus…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk’s lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its leaders, including CEO Sam Altman, heads to court Monday.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/27/tech/elon-musk-sam-altman-ope…

+ 1 more evidence source

cancel

Claim 9: “Musk is seeking $180 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft”

DISPUTED

One source mentions Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion in damages, while another mentions damages in the 'hundreds' of billions, but the specific figure of $180 billion is not explicitly confirmed in the provided text, and figures vary between sources.

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.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Read full articles, watch videos, browse thousands of titles and more on the "Elon Musk" topic with Google News.
https://news.google.com/topics/CAAqIggKIhxDQkFTRHdvSkwyMHZNR…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mar 10, 2026 · Elon Musk cofounded seven companies, including electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX and artificial intelligence startup xAI.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/

check_circle

Claim 10: “Elon Musk’s claims that he “stole” OpenAI when it was a charity and steered the company away from its non-profit mission”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (The Guardian, MIT Technology Review) confirm that Musk's lawsuit accuses Altman of swindling him and betraying the charitable mission of OpenAI.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Read full articles, watch videos, browse thousands of titles and more on the "Elon Musk" topic with Google News.
https://news.google.com/topics/CAAqIggKIhxDQkFTRHdvSkwyMHZNR…

travel_explore

check_circle

Claim 11: “Musk is targeting Altman for removal from OpenAI in a federal lawsuit that claims the company violated its charitable mission.”

CORROBORATED

The Guardian and other sources explicitly state Musk filed a suit accusing Altman of betraying the charitable mission and seeking his removal.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Sam Altman, con man, or Elon Musk, sore loser? The core of Musk’s suit effectively accuses Altman of swindling him with the promise that OpenAI would operate as a nonprofit entity focused on safety an…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/26/musk-altm…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Zoom in: Musk is seeking sweeping remedies, including changes to OpenAI's corporate structure, removal of Altman and Brockman, and damages that he has said should go back to OpenAI's nonprofit arm. Hi…
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/28/elon-openai-altman-trial

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Musk asserts that Altman and Brockman, aided and abetted by co-defendant Microsoft, betrayed the charitable mission of OpenAI to enrich themselves and Silicon Valley insiders. Steven Molo, Musk’s lead…
https://mendovoice.com/2026/05/musk-v-altman-day-5-brockman-…

info

Claim 12: ““Control of OpenAI should pass to my children,” was Musk’s response”

SINGLE SOURCE

While evidence confirms a trial is happening and Musk is testifying, the specific quote about control passing to his children is not present in the provided search results.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and entrepreneur known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and xAI. Musk has been the wealthiest person in the world since 2025; as of May 2026, Forbes estimates h…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk seems tired and cranky. On Thursday, he took the stand for the third day in a four-week trial stemming from his lawsuit alleging that OpenAI abandoned its mission and should be blocked from …
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/elon-musks-7-big…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — OpenAI has argued that Musk is suing because he didn’t get his way and is now trying to undermine a competitor to his own AI company, xAI. Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and the mother of …
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/05/08/1137008/musk-v-a…

check_circle

Claim 13: “Musk himself was busy vying to control OpenAI in the first years after it was founded.”

CORROBORATED

Ars Technica and other reports indicate that OpenAI alleged Musk wanted 'sole control' and to be CEO during the early years, which the other founders refused.

travel_explore

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

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mr. Musk and Mr. Altman have known each other for years and hobnobbed in the same elite Silicon Valley circles. But mutual admiration — which led to their creation of OpenAI in 2015 — has soured to un…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/29/technology/musk-openai-tr…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk and Sam Altman are beefing. But their relationship is complicated.Musk wanted “sole control of the new for-profit,” OpenAI alleged, and he wanted to be CEO. The other founders, including Alt…
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/08/a-brief-history-…

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.