The judge overseeing the Musk v OpenAI trial told Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to curb their social media activity on Tuesday, warning the trio that public commentary risked undermining proceedings a day after Musk used X to attack his former co-founders as jury selection was under way.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers urged the parties to "control your propensity to use social media to make things worse outside this courtroom" ahead of opening statements in the federal courthouse in Oakland, California.
All three agreed to limit their posts about the case for the duration of the trial.
The admonishment followed a series of posts by Musk on Monday, including one that read: "Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop."
OpenAI's official newsroom account responded: "We can't wait to make our case in court where both the truth and the law are on our side. This lawsuit has always been a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor."
A nine-person jury was seated on Monday, and opening statements began on Tuesday morning.
Musk's attorney Steven Molo told jurors that OpenAI, Altman and Brockman "enriched themselves, made themselves more powerful and they breached the very basic principles on which the charity was founded."
He asked the jury to consider three questions throughout the trial: whether OpenAI had a charitable mission to develop safe, open-source AI for the benefit of humanity; whether Altman and Brockman violated that mission; and whether Microsoft knew about it and substantially assisted the breach.
OpenAI's attorney David Savitt countered that the lawsuit was driven by personal grievance rather than legal merit.
"We are here because Mr Musk didn't get his way at OpenAI," Savitt told the jury.
"He quit, saying they would fail for sure. But my clients had the nerve to go on and succeed without him. Mr Musk may not like that, but it's no basis for a lawsuit."
The trial has been narrowed to two claims, unjust enrichment and breach of charitable trust, after Musk dropped his fraud allegations last week.
Musk is seeking up to $130 billion in damages directed to OpenAI's nonprofit foundation, the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles, and a reversion of the company to its original nonprofit structure.
The jury's verdict will be advisory, with Judge Gonzalez Rogers making the final determination on liability.
If she finds in Musk's favour, a remedies phase is scheduled to begin on 18 May.
Musk's legal team struck several prospective jurors during selection who expressed negative views of their client, including one who called him "greedy" and a "piece of garbage" and another whose partner's job was affected by the Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting initiative Musk led in the Trump administration.
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"The reality is that people don't like him. Many people don't like him," Judge Gonzalez Rogers told Musk's attorneys.
"That does not mean that Americans can't have integrity for the judicial process."
The recap
- Three tech figures agreed to avoid social media during a trial.
- The Information is the sole source reporting the agreement.
- The report disclosed no terms, enforcement, or timeline details.
