Before opening statements began in the trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI on Tuesday, the world’s richest man was already making his case on X, the social media platform he owns.
Mr. Musk went on the attack, posting more than two dozen times on Monday about OpenAI; its chief executive, Sam Altman; and the trial. Mr. Musk, who was one of the founders of OpenAI but left in 2018, pushed a narrative to his nearly 240 million followers that he had helped create the artificial intelligence lab to save humanity, but that OpenAI had lost its way after becoming a for-profit company.
“Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity,” Mr. Musk posted at one point, using pointed nicknames for Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI. “Greg got tens of billions of stock for himself and Scam got dozens of OpenAI side deals with a piece of the action for himself.”
(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)
Mr. Musk has long used the platform formerly known as Twitter to shape public opinion around presidential elections, global politics and other issues. In March, he posted on X about another trial, a case in which he had been accused of misleading investors when he bought Twitter in 2022. Mr. Musk tried casting doubts about the case, but a jury eventually found him partly liable for investors’ losses in the deal.
His posts on X are unlikely to affect the jury in his trial against OpenAI, given that jurors are typically instructed to avoid news and social media. But that has rarely stopped Mr. Musk from drumming up conversations on X that reinforce his point of view.
“The main difference between Elon Musk and Sam Altman: Elon Musk actually changes the world for the better and saves lives,” read one post that Mr. Musk reposted on Monday. “Sam Altman? He mostly just takes.”
Some X users on Monday reported seeing a weeks-old post in their timelines featuring a New Yorker article critical of Mr. Altman. X had labeled the post as “boosted” by Mr. Musk’s account, according to some of those users, which suggests the tech billionaire may have promoted the post. Mr. Musk has made a slew of changes to X to favor his interests, including slowing or restricting access to certain news outlets and competing platforms, and banning some reporters.
Mr. Musk and an X representative did not respond to requests for comment. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who is presiding over the case, called Mr. Musk to the bench to discuss whether there should be a gag order preventing him from posting to social media about the trial.
“How can we get things done without you making things worse outside the courtroom?” she asked.
After Mr. Musk said he was just responding to things OpenAI had said online, the judge asked him — and Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman — to start with a “clean slate” and “keep things to a minimum” on social media. They all agreed.
Cade Metz contributed reporting.
Ryan Mac is a Times reporter who covers corporate accountability across the global technology industry.
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