Ilya Sutskever testified on Monday that his stake in OpenAI is now worth about $7 billion.
Sutskever, one of the most influential researchers in artificial intelligence and a central figure in Sam Altman’s brief ouster from OpenAI in 2023, appeared in a California courtroom during the third week of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company and its leadership.
During his testimony, Sutskever said he had spent roughly a year collecting evidence for OpenAI’s board that he believed showed a “consistent pattern of lying” by CEO Sam Altman. He said the concerns included Altman “undermining and pitting executives against one another,” conduct that Sutskever argued was “not conducive to any grand goal,” including the safe development of artificial general intelligence.
The testimony revisited one of the defining corporate crises of the AI era. In November 2023, OpenAI’s board abruptly fired Altman, triggering chaos across the company and the wider technology industry. Within days, employees threatened mass resignations, investors revolted and Microsoft offered to absorb Altman and other OpenAI staff into a new subsidiary.
Sutskever acknowledged that he later reversed course because he feared the company would collapse. “I felt that, had I not done this, the company would be destroyed,” he testified.
The hearing also underscored how dramatically OpenAI’s value has surged since the crisis. Sutskever said his holdings in the company were worth approximately $5 billion in November 2025 and around $7 billion today.
Sutskever’s testimony came as Musk presses claims that OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit mission in pursuit of commercial gain. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and left its board in 2018, is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing that the company shifted away from its original commitment to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.
Sutskever’s account offered new detail about the internal tensions that preceded Altman’s firing. He testified that he had prepared a 52-page document outlining concerns about Altman’s behavior at the request of OpenAI’s board. He also confirmed that he had discussed removing Altman with then-chief technology officer Mira Murati after the pair had spoken about his leadership “for a long time.”
Yet despite helping orchestrate Altman’s removal, Sutskever described himself as largely detached from the public fallout that followed. He testified that he intentionally avoided the internet during the weekend after the board vote and initially did not know about Microsoft’s contingency plans or the employee revolt inside OpenAI.
The testimony also revealed how close OpenAI may have come to a radically different future. Sutskever confirmed that following Altman’s brief ouster, OpenAI’s remaining board members discussed a proposal under which rival AI company Anthropic would merge with OpenAI and assume leadership of the organization. Sutskever said he was “not excited” about such a merger.
Since leaving OpenAI in 2024, Sutskever has launched Safe Superintelligence, an AI company focused on developing safe advanced intelligence systems. The startup was last valued at $32 billion after raising more than $3 billion in funding and maintains a significant presence in Israel, including offices in Tel Aviv.
Closing arguments in the case are expected later this week, with Altman scheduled to testify as soon as Tuesday.