Nadella Testifies in Musk's OpenAI Lawsuit in Oakland

Read, Watch or Listen

Oakland, United States — Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella testified on May 11 in Elon Musk's civil lawsuit against OpenAI, outlining how Microsoft’s funding and early investment supported OpenAI’s shift from a philanthropic organisation to a for‑profit structure and addressing internal emails entered as evidence. The disclosed January 2018 messages show Nadella consulting executives about a discount for OpenAI’s use of Azure and questioning what research OpenAI shared, with comments that Microsoft only opened its checkbook once a profit appeared possible. Microsoft invested $1 billion in 2019 and has since invested about $13 billion, a stake now valued at $228 billion, according to trial filings. The testimony precedes expected questioning of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, likely on May 12 or 13, and follows earlier testimony from co‑founder Greg Brockman. Elon Musk alleges OpenAI betrayed its nonprofit mission and misused his founding donations of $38 million to help build an enterprise now valued at more than $850 billion; he seeks to revert OpenAI to nonprofit status. OpenAI counters that Musk left voluntarily and now competes through xAI. An advisory jury is expected to report the week of May 18, after which Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will make final rulings that could affect OpenAI’s corporate structure and planned IPO.