Story perspectives

Judge Limits Musk’s $134B AI Extinction Lawsuit

5/2/2026

Summary

Musk Testifies AI

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers shut down extinction arguments and ordered focus on corporate dispute.
Elon Musk testified in Oakland warning AI could cause human extinction.
Musk’s lawsuit seeks $134 billion in damages and forces OpenAI to open-source its technology.
OpenAI’s lawyers say Musk never delivered his $1 billion pledge, that Microsoft supplies computing power, and that the trial hinges on the 2015 Founding Agreement which Musk says OpenAI breached as for-profit.

Summary

Musk xAI IPO

Musk said he gave $38 million of essentially free funding to OpenAI, now an $800 billion company.
He warned that a pending trial could halt OpenAI’s IPO, expected to value the firm near $1 trillion.
Musk announced xAI will go public through SpaceX as early as June, targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation.
OpenAI lawyer William Savitt, a former Musk and Tesla representative, said Musk’s nonprofit claim masks competitive motives.

Summary

Musk Bars Extinction

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers barred AI-extinction discussion in the trial, warning that some people do not want humanity’s future in Musk’s hands.
Musk’s AI fear began after a fireside chat with Google co-founder Larry Page over ten years ago.
The talk prompted him to co-found the nonprofit OpenAI with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and researchers.
He framed OpenAI’s mission as building safe AI and shielding humanity from skeptics like Page.

History

Historical Context

In December 2015 Elon Musk, Sam Altman and others founded OpenAI as a nonprofit, pledging $1 billion; by 2019 only $45 million of Musk’s contribution had arrived. Musk left the board in 2018 and in February 2024 sued OpenAI, alleging the firm violated the founding agreement by commercializing its models. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers now presides, reviving early concerns about AI safety and nonprofit control.

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Musk Testifies AI

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers shut down extinction arguments and ordered focus on corporate dispute.
Elon Musk testified in Oakland warning AI could cause human extinction.
Musk’s lawsuit seeks $134 billion in damages and forces OpenAI to open-source its technology.
OpenAI’s lawyers say Musk never delivered his $1 billion pledge, that Microsoft supplies computing power, and that the trial hinges on the 2015 Founding Agreement which Musk says OpenAI breached as for-profit.

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