Altman took the stand and said Elon Musk wanted nearly ninety percent control of OpenAI — and suddenly the “I donated to protect the mission” story has a math problem. This is Musk v Altman Daily, and today that “stolen charity” framing gets flipped — who was actually trying to grab the wheel? Sarah's got the standing angle. Sworn testimony, a specific number, and now it's on the record. Let's get into it. If today's show was useful, follow us wherever you're listening — the next one will be waiting. From CNN-News18:
it was the first time that the judge and jury got to actually hear from one of the chief defendants in this case, and he spent his time testifying that it was actually Elon Musk who wanted to gain control of Open AI. He said that Musk even pushed at one point for OpenAI to be folded into Tesla.
Ninety percent. Altman, under oath, says Musk wanted nearly ninety percent control of OpenAI in the early days — and wanted to fold it into Tesla. That’s the guy who’s been telling this court somebody else tried to steal the charity? It’s the first sworn number we’ve heard from inside the founding room, and CNN-News18 reports Altman testified to it. Devin, slow down on the verdict — the jury never reached the merits, so none of this is settled. It’s just in the record now. Right, but the standing question — who actually has authority to protect that nonprofit mission — looks very different now. If a co-founder wanted ninety percent, was he protecting the mission or trying to own it? That’s the tension around Musk’s whole donor-standing theory. “I gave money to protect the mission” sits awkwardly next to sworn testimony that you wanted near-total control of it. Both are in the record now. Unresolved. And here’s what I want to watch — Musk’s team gets to cross-examine Altman. How do you cross a CEO who just told the jury your client wanted ninety percent of a nonprofit? Good luck. If you’re tracking Musk and Altman because AI power struggles matter, try Anthropic Pentagon Watch — a daily briefing on Anthropic’s fight with the DoD over Claude, military AI use, autonomous weapons, and AI procurement blacklisting. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
We’ve linked every story from today’s briefing in the show notes, so if anything deserves a closer read, you can jump straight to the source there.
That’s Musk v Altman Daily for this Friday. This is a Lantern Podcast.