Murati’s recorded testimony was played on Wednesday in Oakland, California, during Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI.

Musk accuses the company of abandoning the nonprofit mission it started with and turning into a profit-driven business tied to Microsoft.

Speaking about Altman’s leadership, Murati said: “My concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person.” 

She added that he was “creating chaos” inside the company and, at times, was deceptive with her and other executives.

The testimony focused heavily on the leadership situation that shook OpenAI in November 2023. At the time, the board removed Sam Altman as chief executive before bringing him back just days later, while Mira Murati briefly served as interim CEO during that period.

She told the court she still wanted Altman to remain chief executive, although she pressed board members for clearer reasons behind the decision to remove him. At the same time, she warned that the company faced serious internal problems.

“OpenAI was at catastrophic risk of falling apart,” Murati said. “I was concerned about the company completely blowing up.”

Murati later left OpenAI in 2024 and went on to co-found Thinking Machines Lab.

Another former OpenAI board member, Shivon Zilis, also gave evidence in the case. Zilis said the board had “extreme concern” about the release of ChatGPT without proper communication with directors.

Asked whether concerns about Altman had been raised internally, Zilis replied: “There had been a couple of instances.”

Zilis now works at Elon Musk’s Neuralink and is also the mother of four of Musk’s children.

The lawsuit, filed by Musk in 2024, argues that OpenAI moved away from its original charitable purpose after receiving billions of dollars from Microsoft. Musk claims the company effectively became tied to Microsoft’s commercial interests instead of serving the public good.

Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI since 2019 and supplies the computing power behind products such as ChatGPT and Copilot through its Azure cloud platform.

Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages and wants the money directed to OpenAI’s charitable arm. He is also pushing for Altman’s removal and wants the company’s for-profit structure dissolved.

Court proceedings have also revealed challenges between OpenAI’s founders and executives over control of the company, its rapid growth and the race to develop artificial general intelligence, often called AGI.

Some witnesses told the court that the company reaching AGI first could gain enormous economic and political influence worldwide.

The case also reveals Musk’s competition with OpenAI. His own artificial intelligence company, xAI, has expanded rapidly and merged with SpaceX in 2026 in a deal that reportedly valued the combined business at about $250 billion.

During the trial, it also emerged that Musk tried to settle with OpenAI president Greg Brockman shortly before proceedings began. According to testimony, Musk warned that Altman and Brockman could become “the most hated men in America.”

The court filing also accuses OpenAI of engaging in anti-competitive practices by allegedly pressuring its investors to avoid funding rival AI companies, including xAI. 

Musk’s legal team argues that such agreements belittle fair competition in the AI market, which is projected to generate over $1 trillion in revenue within the next decade.

A Change from Non-Profit Origins

Founded in 2015 as a non-profit organisation, OpenAI’s initial mission was to advance AI research for the greater good. 

However, the company pivoted in 2019 to a “capped-profit” model, allowing it to attract investments, notably from Microsoft, which has contributed nearly $14 billion to OpenAI to date. 

Now, OpenAI is seeking to become a fully for-profit entity, a move Musk and his attorneys claim deviates sharply from its original mission.

Elon Musk, who was an early supporter of OpenAI, parted ways with the company in 2018 over disagreements regarding its direction. He has since spoken up about the firm’s profit-oriented approach and its potential monopoly in the AI sector, particularly with the adoption rate of ChatGPT.

Allegations of Anti-Competitive Behaviour

The filing alleges that OpenAI and its primary backer, Microsoft, have engaged in acts that limit competition. According to Musk’s attorneys, OpenAI has allegedly used its influence to ensure that investors avoid funding competing AI firms, a strategy they describe as a “group boycott.”

The motion further claims that Microsoft and OpenAI have benefited from shared competitively sensitive information, facilitated by overlapping board relationships. 

Though Microsoft stepped down from its observer seat on OpenAI’s board earlier this year, there are still issues over the tech giant’s influence on the AI market.

OpenAI’s Response

OpenAI has dismissed Elon Musk’s claims as unfounded. A spokesperson described the legal action as a repetition of “baseless complaints” and maintained the company’s commitment to innovation and transparency. 

Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to expand its reach, recently securing a valuation of $157 billion following a major funding round led by Thrive Capital.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry into partnerships between AI developers and cloud service providers, naming companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Amazon as subjects of interest.

Elon Musk’s challenges also reiterate the competitive dynamics within the AI sector. His own AI startup, xAI, launched in 2023, has already introduced its Grok chatbot and is raising funding to scale its operations. 

The company aims to carve out a role in the generative AI market, which has seen explosive growth this year.

What’s at Stake?

The outcome of this case could impact how AI companies scale through competition and corporate structure in the crowded marketplace. The questions over OpenAI’s ability to balance commercial interests with its founding commitment to societal benefit are still awaiting responses.