The highly publicized court battle between tech figures Elon Musk and Sam Altman has revealed new tensions and behind-the-scenes details about the rise of OpenAI, as the trial entered its third phase this week.
According to reports from The Guardian, Musk’s legal team presented testimony from former company executives, private messages, internal notes, and emails in an effort to portray Altman as an unreliable and inconsistent leader.
At the center of this week’s proceedings was the video testimony of Mira Murati, the former Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI, who left the company in 2024. Murati, once considered one of Altman’s closest collaborators, told the court that he had created “chaos” inside the company and often communicated differently with different people.
According to her testimony, Altman had a pattern of behavior in which “he would tell one thing to one person and the exact opposite to another,” creating uncertainty and tension within management.
The court also reviewed text messages from 2023 sent by Altman to Murati during the period when OpenAI’s board temporarily removed him as CEO over allegations of lacking transparency. In those messages, Altman asked Murati for information regarding the board’s decision and his future at the company.
“Can you generally tell me if it’s good or bad?” Altman reportedly wrote, to which Murati replied: “Overall, very bad.”
Murati’s testimony was only one of several statements that raised concerns about Altman’s leadership style. Former board member Helen Toner stated that there had been “a concerning pattern regarding his honesty and transparency,” while another former board member, Natasha McCauley, claimed that Altman had caused “repeated crises” within the company.
In recent hearings, OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever was also called to testify. He stated that he had serious concerns about how Altman managed the company and about his truthfulness.
Meanwhile, Altman has denied Musk’s accusations and is expected to testify in the coming days. The lawsuit centers on Musk’s claims that OpenAI violated its founding agreements by moving away from its original nonprofit mission and evolving into a profit-driven structure.
