MUSK v. ALTMAN

THE TRIAL OF OPENAI
CASE 4:24-CV-04722-YGR · N.D. CAL. · APRIL 27, 2026

In December 2015, OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit. Its certificate of incorporation read: “not organized for the private gain of any person.”

Within three years, the co-founder who wrote that line was privately calculating how to reach a billion dollars.

On April 27, 2026, a jury will see the diary.

854
Trial Exhibits
10+
Depositions
4
Week Jury Trial
Presiding: Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of California · Oakland
Plaintiff: Elon Reeve Musk
Defendants: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI Inc., et al.
Filed: September 2024
Trial begins April 27, 2026
Jury selection · 4-week trial · Oakland Federal Courthouse
CENTRAL EVIDENCE · FROM COURT FILINGS
Exhibit 163 · Private Diary · Greg Brockman
“it’d be wrong to steal the non-profit from him. to convert to a b-corp without him. that’d be pretty morally bankrupt. and he’s really not an idiot.”
November 12, 2017 · Bates OPENAI_MUSK00029733-29740
Docket 440 · Stipulated Trial Exhibit
Exhibit 46 · Private Diary · Greg Brockman
“Financially what will take me to $1B? … To get 10% of the thing at a billion, we’re talking $100m!”
September 2017 · Exhibit 46 (Docket 379, Att. 81)
Stipulated as Exhibit 151
Exhibit 43 · Private Diary · Greg Brockman
“cannot say that we are committed to the non-profit. don’t want to say that we’re committed. if three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”
Late 2017 · Docket 379, Att. 78
Exhibit J / Exhibit 41 · Email · Sutskever & Brockman to Musk
“The goal of OpenAI is to make the future good and to avoid an AGI dictatorship. You are concerned that Demis could create an AGI dictatorship. So do we. So it is a bad idea to create a structure where you could become a dictator if you chose to.”
September 20, 2017 · "Honest Thoughts" Email
Docket 396, Att. 11 / Docket 351, Att. 44
Exhibit 4 · Deposition · Elon Musk
“They stole the charity. That’s wrong.”
Musk Deposition, 2025 · Docket 391, Att. 58
Internal Microsoft Email · Amy Hood, CFO
“not terribly constraining nor terribly altruistic… a little of the gotcha.”
July 14, 2019 · Re: $1B Microsoft Investment
Microsoft negotiated from $2B to $1B commitment
Kara Swisher Podcast · Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
“If OpenAI disappeared tomorrow … we have all of the rights to continue the innovation. We have the people, we have the compute, we have the data, we have everything.”
November 21, 2023 · Five days after the board fired Altman
Exhibit 43 · Private Diary · Greg Brockman
“his story will correctly be that we weren’t honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for profit just without him.”
Late 2017 · Docket 379, Att. 78
Written before Musk left the board
CHRONOLOGY · FOUNDING THROUGH TRIAL
2015
May 25
Sam Altman emails Elon Musk proposing a “Manhattan Project for AI” as a nonprofit. Musk responds: “Probably worth a conversation.”
June 24
Altman proposes structure: nonprofit with startup-level compensation. Safety as “first-class requirement.” Musk agrees: “Agree on all.”
November 22
Musk’s $1B commitment: “We need $1B to avoid sounding hopeless. I will cover whatever anyone else doesn’t provide.”
Founding Email Chain
December 11
OpenAI incorporated and announced. Certificate of Incorporation: “not organized for the private gain of any person.”
Exhibit 21 · Docket 32, Att. 22
2016
January 2
Ilya Sutskever emails Musk: “The Open in OpenAI means everyone benefits AFTER it’s built, but it’s totally OK to not share the science.” Musk replies: “Yup.”
Exhibit 516/1586
2017
September 12
Musk tells co-founders: “I feel fear” about AGI. “Enjoy these years on earth if it goes wrong.” Proposes a for-profit hardware arm the next day.
Exhibit 39 · Brockman’s Call Notes
September 20
The “Honest Thoughts” email. Sutskever and Brockman warn Musk of “AGI dictatorship,” question Altman’s cost function. Musk’s response: “This is the final straw. I will no longer fund OpenAI.”
Exhibit J / Exhibit 41 · Docket 351, Att. 44
September 21
Altman retreats: “I remain enthusiastic about the non-profit structure!”
November 12
Brockman writes in his diary: “morally bankrupt” — acknowledging the conversion plan. “The true answer is we want him out.”
Exhibit 163 · Bates 29733-29740
2018
January
Musk’s “0% Assessment”: OpenAI has “0% probability of being relevant to DeepMind/Google. Not 1%.” Altman proposes cryptocurrency ICO fundraising. Musk kills it.
February
Musk proposes merging OpenAI into Tesla. The board declines.
March 7
Kevin Scott, Microsoft CTO: “I wonder if the big OpenAI donors are aware of these plans?”
September
Musk resigns from the OpenAI board.
2019
March 11
OpenAI announces for-profit “LP” restructuring. The nonprofit that promised to benefit humanity becomes a capped-profit corporation.
July 14
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood: deal is “not terribly altruistic … a little of the gotcha.” Investment negotiated from $2B down to $1B.
2022
November 30
ChatGPT deployed. One million users in five days. OpenAI valued at $29 billion.
2023
November 17
The OpenAI board fires Sam Altman for being “not consistently candid” and “deliberately misrepresented.”
November 19
Mira Murati texts Satya Nadella: “I’m not putting my name on this.” Calls him “the voice of reason.” Nadella refuses to endorse the firing.
Murati Texts · Docket 391, Att. 67
November 20
751 OpenAI employees threaten to quit if Altman isn’t reinstated. Microsoft offers positions to all.
November 21
Five days later, Altman is reinstated. The board that fired him is dissolved. Nadella: “We have everything.”
2024
September
Elon Musk files Musk v. Altman in the Northern District of California. Private diaries, depositions, and internal emails unsealed.
2025
Fall
Depositions: Altman, Musk, Sutskever, Brockman, Toner, Murati, Nadella, Birchall, and others sit under oath. Murati evades subpoena 11 times with private security.
Murati Motion · Docket 391
September 10
Musk’s own financial manager, Jared Birchall, testifies that xAI abandoned its PBC status as “basically just a lot of virtue signaling.”
Birchall Deposition · Docket 404, Att. 2
2026
April 7–8
Musk files amended remedies: requests Altman and Brockman removal from OpenAI. Explicitly states no personal financial benefit sought.
April 11
OpenAI responds with “legal ambush” filing. Asks California Attorney General to investigate Musk.
April 27
Jury selection begins. Four-week trial. 854 exhibits. The diary enters the courtroom.
KEY FIGURES
Elon Musk
Plaintiff. Co-founder and early funder of OpenAI. $1B commitment. Board member 2015–2018. Founded xAI in 2023. Alleges the nonprofit was stolen.
Sam Altman
Defendant. CEO of OpenAI. Co-founder. Led the for-profit conversion. Fired and reinstated in five days. Six undisclosed financial interests intersecting with OpenAI vendors.
Greg Brockman
Defendant. Co-president. Former Stripe CTO. Author of the private diary that became the case’s central exhibit. Wrote “morally bankrupt” and “what will take me to $1B?”
Ilya Sutskever
Co-founder. Chief Scientist. Co-authored the “Honest Thoughts” email warning of AGI dictatorship. Compiled the document that fired Altman in November 2023 — then reversed.
Mira Murati
Interim CEO during the November 2023 crisis. Texted Nadella “I’m not putting my name on this” and called him “the voice of reason.” Evaded deposition subpoena 11 times.
Satya Nadella
Microsoft CEO. Refused to endorse Altman’s firing when the board asked — sealing the board’s fate. Said “we have everything” if OpenAI disappeared.
Helen Toner
Former board member. Testified that the PBC guardrail was “not actually that solid.” Deposed on the firing rationale and Microsoft’s role in the reinstatement.
Amy Hood
Microsoft CFO. Negotiated the $1B investment. Called the deal “not terribly altruistic … a little of the gotcha.”
Judge Rogers
Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. U.S. District Court, N.D. Cal. Denied OpenAI’s motion to dismiss, citing Brockman diary entries as establishing factual basis for fraud claims.
CLAIMS BEFORE THE JURY
COUNT I
Breach of Nonprofit Charter
OpenAI violated its December 2015 Certificate of Incorporation: “not organized for the private gain of any person.”
COUNT II
Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Leadership prioritized personal financial gain over the nonprofit mission they were entrusted to protect.
COUNT III
Fraudulent Concealment
Public commitment to the nonprofit structure while privately planning for-profit conversion. The diary: “if three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”
COUNT IV
Self-Dealing
Six Altman financial interests intersecting with OpenAI business decisions. California Attorney General investigating.
AMENDED REMEDY
Removal of Altman & Brockman
Filed April 7–8, 2026. Musk seeks removal from OpenAI leadership. Explicitly states no personal financial benefit.
RECENT DOCKET ACTIVITY
April 11, 2026
OpenAI files response characterizing Musk’s amended remedies as a “legal ambush.” Requests California AG investigation of Musk’s motives.
April 7–8, 2026
Musk files amended remedies. Seeks removal of Altman and Brockman from OpenAI. No personal financial recovery requested.
April 6, 2026
OpenAI asks state Attorneys General to investigate Musk’s involvement with xAI and potential conflicts of interest.
March 2026
Final pre-trial motions. Both sides file trial briefs. 854 exhibits identified for trial (Docket 440).
September 2025
Birchall deposition (Docket 404). Musk’s financial manager admits xAI abandoned PBC status as “virtue signaling.”
Fall 2025
Deposition season. Altman, Musk, Sutskever, Brockman, Toner, Murati, Nadella, and others sit under oath. Murati evades service 11 times.
THE CONTRADICTION
What they said publicly

“OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”

OPENAI BLOG · DECEMBER 11, 2015
What was written privately

“Financially what will take me to $1B? … To get 10% of the thing at a billion, we’re talking $100m!”

BROCKMAN DIARY · EXHIBIT 46 · 2017

“I remain enthusiastic about the non-profit structure!”

SAM ALTMAN · EMAIL · SEP 21, 2017

“cannot say that we are committed to the non-profit … if three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”

BROCKMAN DIARY · EXHIBIT 43 · LATE 2017

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