Jury selection in Musk v. Altman began Monday, setting up an Elon Musk-Sam Altman courtroom confrontation over the lawsuit Musk filed two years ago. But the 12 citizens chosen may not be prepared for the level of dirty drama that is about to unfold.
how dirty? Corporate litigation lawyer Andrew Steltman, who has been following Musk’s lawsuit for years, has produced the most memorable summary yet. “We’re going to see the Hindenburg landing on the deck of the Titanic,” Steltman said. Washington Post. “It’s going to get crazy and bad.”
This might seem like an over-the-top teaser for a pilot episode of “The Real Housewives of Silicon Valley.” But if anything, it undersells the reality-show fireworks that could go off during this trial. Altman (a noted falsifier, as exposed by this month’s Ronan Farrow New Yorker clarified) and Musk (who has repeatedly failed to deliver on his promises, most recently promises about Tesla’s full self-driving capabilities) are willing to talk about each other under oath.
What’s at stake in the Musk-Altman trial?
At stake in the long-awaited trial is whether Musk was defrauded in 2019. That’s the year Altman, who co-founded OpenAI with Musk and others, transformed the company from a non-profit to a for-profit enterprise.
If Oakland jurors agree with Musk’s fraud charges, it could throw a major wrench into OpenAI’s expected 2026 IPO (the company is currently valued at north of $850 billion). Musk’s lawyers have claimed that OpenAI owes Musk approximately $138 billion.
But when it comes to these billionaires, it’s not necessarily about the money. After all, Musk has sued Altman and colleagues personallyInstead of the company OpenAI. Altman and Musk have a relationship to which Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, a mutual friend who also appears in the court documents, may have even coined the label “it’s complicated.”
If you need convincing, consider the tea that’s already spilled. Here’s a quick guide to the most shocking revelations from court documents so far — and it’s all down to federal judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. already Considered to be the centerpiece of the matter.
1. What did Musk do at Burning Man?
Many dreams and plans are made among members of the tech elite at the annual desert festival in Northern Nevada; For many people in Silicon Valley, including Musk, Burning Man is less of a holiday and more of a religion. But never did any one of those messy conversations become so central to the trial.
Specifically, we’re talking about Burning Man 2017, when the theme was “Radical Ritual” – said by the Burning Man organization to be “the vague ground that lies between reverence and ridicule, faith and belief, the absurd and the astonishingly sublime.”
This description could equally apply to the lawsuit, and in particular, Altman’s lawyers attempted to question whether Musk was capable of holding back the OpenAI talks even while he was partying hard in the desert.
The Burning Man is not what you think, and it has never been like that
“Do you remember Rhino Kate’s consumption at Burning Man 2017?”. Altman’s lawyers asked Musk the same question during his testimony. Musk said he did not know what Rhino Kate was; It is apparently an amphetamine mixed with ketamine, as well as the name of a 2024 song by Irish hip-hop group Kneecap.
Altman’s lawyers have argued, “It is clearly relevant that Musk spent several days at Burning Man amid conversations he now claims he does not remember.” “It speaks to the seriousness with which they took the discussions, and their focus, or lack thereof, on the future of OpenAI.”
Judge Rogers has ruled that Musk’s use of ketamine is out of bounds in itself — asking about it could be “unduly prejudicial,” he wrote in a pre-trial ruling — but that “alleged lapses in memory” based on that use could be relevant. Musk has said that he takes prescribed ketamine to treat depression.
mashable light speed
Musk’s appearance at Burning Man, however, “is relevant to the attention he has paid to his conversations with OpenAI, which reportedly occurred during the same period,” says Rogers.
What does it mean: “Rhino Kate” will not be mentioned in court, but the less specific “memory lapse” may be. And get ready to be tested as you enter the surreal world of Black Rock City – complete with art cars, wild costumes and black light body paint – as Musk’s experience is recreated nine years ago. What happens at Burning Man can’t stay at Burning Man.
2. Was Musk’s co-parent an OpenAI spy?
Reality shows often feature some form of baby mama drama. But in this case, spilling the tea on one of Musk’s many co-parents — Shivon Zilis — has been considered more than mere gossip.
That’s because Zilis, a VC and AI expert, is more than just the mother of the four Musk children. (Musk has a total of 14 children with four co-parents.) He’s what Altman calls an “Elon whisperer” in his statement — a longtime associate who has since worked with him at Tesla and Neuralink. Zilis and Musk met after he joined OpenAI in 2016. She was the youngest member of the OpenAI board before stepping down in 2023.
In 2018, according to text exchanges in court documents, Zilis asked Musk whether he should “remain close and friendly with OpenAI to continue sharing information” or “begin to separate” from the company. Musk, who resigned from the OpenAI board at the time, responded: “Close and friendly.”
Musk’s lawyers, trying to prove that a significant Microsoft investment in OpenAI violates OpenAI’s non-profit structure, are relying on Zilis’ testimony. But OpenAI says Zilis has been compromised. Rogers ruled that the relationship between Musk and Zilis is “highly relevant to Zilis’ credibility.” Zilis said in his statement that their relationship is currently romantic.
What does it mean: Watch Altman’s lawyers argue that the romance part extends back to 2016 and was not disclosed at the time. So we might be sifting through personal text messages between the two, learning curious details like what Zilis saved Musk on his phone under the name “Schrödinger’s Cat.”
3. Did Mark Zuckerberg censor posts for Musk?
Altman’s lawyers may try to prove that even the biggest names in the technology world bow before Musk. If the litigating tech celeb has Silicon Valley running in terror at him, the logic goes, it makes it less likely that he was defrauded by Altman in the OpenAI restructuring — and more likely that the lawsuit is frivolous.
Documents have already been filed in court several times in which Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to take Musk’s side. And Musk then ridiculed Zuckerberg online, then publicly challenged the Meta chief to a cage match in 2023 and 2024.
“Looks like DOGE is making progress,” Zuckerberg messaged Musk in February 2025, when the highly controversial agency was attacking the US government and its employees downloading Social Security data. Then they basically offered to hide the real names of people like alleged cybercriminal Big Balls.
It is not illegal to disclose the names of government employees; They are expected to work for (and get paid by) people. But that wasn’t the spirit of Zuckerberg’s message. “I’ve put my teams on alert to remove content that involves people doxing or threatening our people,” Zuckerberg wrote. Musk took the message to heart, then asked Zuckerberg if he was interested in joining his OpenAI acquisition bid. The two agreed to talk on the phone, although we don’t know if the call actually took place.
A $97 billion takeover bid led by Musk, announced several days later, was rejected by Altman with a clapback that reflects their relationship. “No thanks, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion,” Altman wrote on X.
4. ‘Jeff is a tool’: Is Silicon Valley basically high school?
Altman’s satire is just a tip mean Girls Iceberg. Musk v. Altman includes several such cases. For example, in 2016, two men were discussing whether OpenAI should use Microsoft or Amazon for its server farms — an important question, as it turned out. It seems Musk chose Microsoft over Amazon based on the personalities of their respective CEOs.
“I think Jeff [Bezos] is a tool and a bit of truth [Nadella] No, so I like Microsoft a bit,” Musk wrote in an email. In his statement, when asked about the “tool” comment, Musk said this is not a permanent situation, before suggesting: “That could be, you know… a redemption arc for all of us.”
Congratulations, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. You played yourself.
As if this test wasn’t high school enough, it also includes a diary from Greg Brockman, president and co-founder of OpenAI. “This is our only chance to get the best out of Elon,” Brockman wrote in a partially redacted entry filed by Musk’s lawyers. This was in 2017, when OpenAI was beginning to consider restructuring. “What will get me to $1B financially[illion]?” he adds.
Brockman, who was forced to turn over the diary in March, accused Ax of dishonesty.
This tweet is currently unavailable. It may be loading or may have been removed.
But ultimately it doesn’t get more high school than the Altman-Musk relationship. According to the filing, Altman wrote to Musk in 2023, “It’s really hurtful when you publicly attack OpenAI.” Why? Because “You’re my hero.”
Incredibly, Musk wrote back with an apology. But then he added a phrase that stunned Altman, and if it remains his belief in the courtroom, practically guarantees fireworks between the two.
“It was certainly not my intention to cause any hurt, for which I apologize,” Musk wrote. “But the fate of civilization is at stake.”
<a href