Elon Musk testifies Google co-founder sided with the robots: "Larry Page called me a speciesist"

Elon Musk took the stand in his 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI, delivering a dramatic first day of testimony. The world's richest man told a nine-person jury that AI 'could kill us all,' citing James Cameron's Terminator as a cautionary tale and Star Trek as a hopeful alternative. He pinned the entire origin of OpenAI on a single insult from Google co-founder Larry Page, who allegedly called him 'speciesist' for prioritizing human interests over AI. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman after their fears of Google's profit-driven AI dominance, but left in 2018 after a power struggle over CEO control.

OpenAI's lawyers argue Musk is simply nursing 'sour grapes' after losing that power struggle. Lead counsel William Savitt told jurors that Musk's $38 million donation doesn't entitle him to control, especially now that he runs his own for-profit AI lab, xAI. The trial, expected to last four weeks, centers on whether OpenAI betrayed its founding mission as a nonprofit. Musk seeks over $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming the $730 billion company stole a charity. OpenAI counters that Musk's lawsuit is a revenge play from a billionaire who couldn't get his way.