What did OpenAI hide? Musk's lawsuit reveals internal chaos

Elon Musk's $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI intensified this week with testimony that CEO Sam Altman misled executives and created a fractured leadership structure during one of AI's most critical growth periods.

The trial in Oakland federal court is now examining whether OpenAI illegally abandoned its nonprofit mission.

OpenAI's former Technology Chief Mira Murati testified that Altman contradicted himself with different executives, sowing distrust across the company's senior ranks. Murati briefly led OpenAI after the board forced out Altman in 2023, a move she now acknowledges was necessary given the "catastrophic risk" she feared would unravel the organization entirely.

Her recorded testimony painted a picture of a CEO whose inconsistent messaging undermined operational stability at a company directing the development of the world's most influential AI technology.

The board member, Shivon Zilis, who is now working at Musk’s Neuralink, stated that the board expressed "extreme concern" over the launch of ChatGPT without the necessary discussion from the board.

The company experienced tremendous success with the launch of this blockbuster product, which transformed its market position. However, there seems to have been considerable internal oposition against the ChatGPT launch.

Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, a company he helped set up and later gave some start-up money for, is pushing to have the business revert back to being a not-for-profit corporation, calling it a "bait-and-switch" that saw the company switch from its charitable-oriented enterprise to outright commercial focussing.