Elon Musk Sues OpenAI: What a Former Leader's Testimony Reveals

Ilya Sutskever, one of the founders and former chief scientist of OpenAI, testified in court this week in Elon Musk's lawsuit against the company. During his testimony, Sutskever revealed that he owns about $7 billion worth of OpenAI shares — a staggering amount that offers a window into how much money is at stake in this legal dispute.

Sutskever also provided the most detailed public account so far of what happened inside OpenAI's leadership in November 2023, when he and other board members moved to remove CEO Sam Altman. Altman was briefly out of the job, but returned within days after employees threatened to leave en masse.

The Board Coup That Backfired

In November 2023, Sutskever led an effort to remove Altman as CEO. He spent about a year before that gathering what he called evidence of Altman's dishonesty, and worked with other board members to build a case for firing him.

The board did remove Altman, but the decision was unpopular inside the company. Employees made it clear they would leave if Altman didn't come back. Within days, he was reinstated. Sutskever has not worked with Altman or co-founder Greg Brockman since the failed coup. He left OpenAI in 2024 and started his own competing AI company.

Sutskever testified that he deliberately avoided reading news on the internet during the weekend after Altman was fired. This suggests that the huge public backlash against the board's decision surprised people inside the company.

The Money Involved

OpenAI is now valued at $850 billion — roughly the size of the McDonald's corporation. Sutskever's $7 billion stake is enormous, but it's dwarfed by Greg Brockman's holdings, worth about $30 billion.

These numbers matter to Musk's lawsuit. Musk argues that OpenAI has strayed from its original purpose — to develop artificial intelligence safely, for the benefit of humanity — and instead has become focused on making money. He says that when people own billions of dollars in a company, their financial interests drive their decisions in ways that conflict with the company's stated mission.

Sutskever also revealed that Google once offered him $6 million per year to work for them. He turned it down to join OpenAI, betting instead that owning a stake in the company would make him far wealthier in the long run. He was right.

AI Safety Research Gets Shut Down

Sutskever ran OpenAI's superalignment team, which studied how to keep advanced AI systems safe and under human control. This team was dissolved in May 2024, shortly after Sutskever left the company.

That shutdown fits into the pattern Musk is highlighting in his lawsuit. He suggests that OpenAI, despite its founding commitment to safety, has deprioritized safety research in favor of building products and making money.

What's Really at Stake

This lawsuit is nominally about whether Musk — who was an OpenAI co-founder but left years ago — can win compensation from the company. But the case touches on a bigger question that affects how society manages artificial intelligence.

OpenAI started as a nonprofit research organization. Over time it became a commercial company owned by investors. That shift is not unusual in the tech industry — Google, Facebook, and many others started as idealistic projects and became profit-focused businesses. But with artificial intelligence, the stakes feel different to many people. AI development could have major consequences for society, so questions about whether the people running these companies are prioritizing safety — or just chasing profits — matter to the public, not just to shareholders.

The trial includes testimony from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI's board chair Bret Taylor, and other former OpenAI executives. Their accounts paint a picture of a company that has transformed from a safety-focused research lab into one of the world's most valuable businesses. Sutskever's billion-dollar stake is a reminder that the people making decisions at OpenAI now stand to gain enormous wealth — which may or may not align with what's best for society.