Jury Selection Signals the Start of Elon Musk and OpenAI's Blockbuster Court Battle

A long-awaited trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s OpenAI began in a federal court in Oakland, California on Monday morning. In 2024, Musk, a major early investor and co-founder of OpenAI, sued OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, and major backer Microsoft, claiming that they had defrauded him of billions of dollars by turning OpenAI from a non-profit to a for-profit. Now, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers has seated a nine-person jury on Monday afternoon and opening statements will begin tomorrow. The trial will be divided into two parts. The first part is the liability phase, meant to last until May 21, when it will be passed on to the jury for an advisory verdict. Then, the judge will begin the remedies phase. Several very influential figures in the AI industry are expected to be called in for a testimony, including Musk, Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both Altman and Brockman were in court for the first day of the trial, according to CNBC. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know. When OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit AI lab in 2015, Elon Musk was one of its co-founders and a major early investor. Then, Musk left the company in 2