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Musk and Altman Rivalry Escalates

Musk and Altman Rivalry Escalates

May 16, 2026
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Musk and Altman Rivalry Escalates

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Elon Musk spent most of three days on the witness stand this week as part of his lawsuit against OpenAI, and the proceedings are already turning contentious. A stream of emails, text messages, and even Musk's own social media posts are being presented as evidence, with many more witnesses expected to testify. What is Musk's core accusation against OpenAI? He claims that by shifting the company to a for-profit structure, Sam Altman violated the founding "nonprofit for the benefit of humanity" mission that Musk originally agreed to fund. As Musk repeatedly asserts in court: "You can't steal a charity."

In this episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, we examine what's truly at stake in this legal battle and what to expect as Altman and other key figures testify. We also cover major deals, developments in defense technology, and what the latest Big Tech earnings reports reveal about the potential limits of massive AI investment.

You can subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. You can also follow the podcast on X and Threads at @EquityPod.

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Comments (1)
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EricScott
EricScott May 31, 2026 at 8:00:13 PM EDT

So Musk is literally suing his own creation? 😂 The courtroom drama sounds like a soap opera with all those leaked emails and texts. Honestly, it's wild watching these tech billionaires throw shade at each other over AI—meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to figure out which chatbot won't hallucinate our grocery list. 🤷‍♂️

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