Musk says basis of charitable giving at stake in OpenAI lawsuit

elon musk took the stand in oakland on tuesday, saying his lawsuit against openai is about protecting charitable giving. "it's not okay to steal a charity," he said. "if it's okay to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving will be destroyed." musk donated $38m to openai while it was a non-profit. he objects to its 2018 shift to a commercial arm, years before chatgpt launched. his lawyer said openai ceo sam altman and co-founder greg brockman "stole a charity." musk wants billions in "wrongful gains" used to fund openai's non-profit arm, plus altman ousted. openai's lawyer said musk is a competitor trying to kneecap a rival. "we're here because mr musk didn't get his way at openai," said william savitt. musk wanted to merge openai into tesla, savitt said, and left when others refused. the judge warned musk against using social media to influence the trial after he called altman "scam altman" on x. a verdict is expected in late may.