Elon Musk calls OpenAI CEO ‘Scam Altman,' dropping bombshell accusations as trial begins

Elon Musk wrote a furious tweet on Monday, April 27, attacking OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as jury selection initiated in their high-stakes federal trial.

SpaceX CEO called him “Scam Altman” and accused him of looting a charitable foundation.

“The fundamental question is simply this: Do you want to set legal precedent in the United States that it is ok to loot a charity? If so, you undermine all charitable giving in the United States forever,” he wrote.

Two years ago, Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, and president Greg Brockman, claiming that they deceived him into co-founding the company as a non-profit.

The company aimed at developing AI solely for the public’s benefit. However, they abandon this core mission to make a lucrative deal with Microsoft.

Musk alleged that the 2019 and 2023 deals between OpenAI and Microsoft led to a “de facto merger,” making OpenAI’s GPT-4 a “closed-source” subsidiary of Microsoft’s cloud platform.

“I could have started OpenAI as a for-profit corporation. Instead, I started it, funded it, recruited critical talent and taught them everything I know about how to make a startup successful FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD,” he added.

Making a bold statement, he wrote: “They stole the charity.”

As the federal trial began, Altman made a surprise appearance in an Oakland courtroom on Monday. It is anticipated that potential jurors offered unfavourable views about both parties.