Elon Musk says AI could kill us, warns of ‘Terminator outcome’

Elon Musk appeared in a California courtroom on Tuesday, sounding an alarm about artificial intelligence, which he himself had helped develop, as something capable of destroying humanity’s civilisation. His target: OpenAI, the firm he co-founded a decade back and now wishes to dismantle in its present avatar.

Musk has sued OpenAI, along with CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, demanding $130 billion in damages. He also wishes for the firm to be reformed as a non-profit organisation, with Altman and Brockman stripped of their positions on its board.

"We don't want to have a 'Terminator' outcome," Musk told the jury, explaining why he originally funded the nonprofit in 2015 with at least $44 million of his own money.

OpenAI's lead attorney Bill Savitt was direct in his opening statement. "We're here because Mr. Musk didn't get his way at OpenAI," Savitt told the jury. "My clients had the nerve to go on and succeed without him."

The company further argues that Musk himself once advocated for a for-profit structure, making his current objections legally and factually inconsistent.

The trial's atmosphere was apparent before a single witness took the stand. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rebuked Musk Tuesday morning for a series of social media posts including one calling Altman "Scam Altman" warning that his posts would "only make things worse" and threatening a gag order. Musk agreed to scale back his posting. Altman and Brockman agreed to the same terms.

Jury selection revealed a separate challenge for Musk: public perception. One dismissed juror had described him as "greedy" and a "piece of garbage" on their questionnaire; another cited personal harm from DOGE, the federal cost-cutting initiative Musk led under the Trump administration.