Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman face off in a Northern California courtroom this week in a case that could reshape the AI industry's most valuable company.

Musk is seeking $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that Altman and president Greg Brockman deceived him into funding the company's early days by promising to maintain it as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity's benefit.

The Tesla CEO cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left in 2018 after a power struggle. He claims the pair later restructured the company to operate a for-profit subsidiary without properly informing him.

The stakes for OpenAI's future

Musk is asking the court to remove Altman and Brockman from their roles and restore OpenAI as a nonprofit. Any damages would go to OpenAI's nonprofit arm rather than to Musk personally.

Nine jurors will deliver an advisory verdict to guide the judge's decision. Musk, Altman, and Brockman will testify, alongside former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, former CTO Mira Murati, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

The trial comes as OpenAI, valued at over $850 billion, races toward an IPO by year-end. The company originally launched in 2015 with a $38 million donation from Musk and pledged to create open-source technology for public benefit.

But OpenAI later argued that intensifying competition made sharing AI development methods dangerous and that nonprofit status couldn't raise sufficient funds for continued AI research.

California and Delaware attorneys general approved OpenAI's corporate restructuring in October 2025 with conditions including safety committee oversight. California's attorney general declined to join Musk's lawsuit, saying it didn't serve public interest.

Legal experts question whether Musk has standing to sue over the restructuring. "The idea that Elon Musk can sue because he was a donor or used to be on the board is pretty puzzling," says Northwestern University law professor Jill Horwitz.

The case is being analyzed under trust law rather than nonprofit corporation law, which some scholars argue is inappropriate since OpenAI is a corporation, not a trust.

The trial offers rare public insight into the secretive AI industry's internal workings and founding dynamics.