【AI前沿】Sam Altman says Elon Musk’s mind games were damaging OpenAI

AINewsPolicySam Altman says Elon Musk’s mind games were damaging OpenAIMusk’s departure from OpenAI was a ‘morale boost,’ according to Altman.Musk’s departure from OpenAI was a ‘morale boost,’ according to Altman.byEmma RothMay 12, 2026, 5:34 PM UTCLinkShareGiftPart OfLive updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAIsee all updatesEmma Rothis a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Elon Musk did “huge damage” to the culture of the AI startup. During testimony as part ofMusk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman said Musk required OpenAI president Greg Brockman and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever to rank researchers by their accomplishments and “take a chainsaw through a bunch.”Altman conceded thatthis was the management style the Tesla CEO was known for, but that it was incompatible with his startup. “I don’t think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab,” Altman testified when his lawyer, William Savitt, asked about the impact of Musk’s departure from OpenAI on morale. “For a research lab where people need, sort of, psychological safety and long periods of time to pursue an idea, this idea that you constantly have to show your results, and if they’re not good enough on a short period, you’re going to get fired. That really didn’t work for the kind of research we went on to successfully do.”Musk cofounded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman and Brockman, but the billionaire left the startup in 2018. At the time, OpenAI saidMusk was leavingto avoid a conflict of interest with the machine learning work done by Tesla, thoughtestimony is painting a different picture.RelatedElon Musk’s worst enemy in court is Elon MuskMira Murati tells the court that she couldn’t trust Sam Altman’s wordsAltman added that Musk’s departure “was a morale boost in some ways,” as staff members realized they didn’t have to “work this way anymore.” Musk’s lawsuitclaims OpenAI abandonedits original mission of benefitting humanity and that Altman and Brockman tricked him into providing funding for the startup.The trial has entered its third week, and we’ve seen testimony from several key figures,including Brockman, former OpenAIboard member Shivon Zilis,Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, andformer OpenAI CTO Mira Murati.Follow topics and authorsfrom this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma RothAIElon MuskNewsOpenAIPolicyTechMore in:Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAISam Altman was winning on the stand, but it might not be enoughElizabeth LopattoMay 12About 200 people work on safety at OpenAI.Hayden FieldMay 12The chair of OpenAI’s safety and security committee said they’ve formally delayed its model releases.Hayden FieldMay 12Most PopularMost PopularGoogle announces its Chromebook successor: the GooglebookAndroid Auto is now one (screen) size fits allGoogle’s Aluminium OS revealed in 16-minute leaked videoLogitech’s tiny folding mouse improves upon the laptop trackpadThe 9 biggest new features in Android 17The Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to ourTermsandPrivacy Notice.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the GooglePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Serviceapply.Advertiser Content FromThis is the title for the native ad