Satya Nadella delivered blistering testimony in court on Monday, describing the 2023 attempt by OpenAI\u2019s board to remove chief executive Sam Altman as \u201camateur city,\u201d during a closely watched legal battle involving billionaire Elon Musk. The comments came as Nadella testified in Musk\u2019s lawsuit accusing OpenAI and Microsoft of abandoning the nonprofit mission on which the AI lab was founded and transforming it into a profit-driven corporate powerhouse.<\/p>\n
According to reporting by the Financial Times, Nadella told the court he never received a clear explanation from OpenAI\u2019s board regarding why Altman had been abruptly fired in November 2023 before being reinstated only days later after a revolt by employees and investors. The board had originally claimed Altman was removed because he was \u201cnot consistently candid,\u201d a justification Nadella acknowledged could warrant dismissing a chief executive. However, he said repeated requests for details produced no meaningful answers.<\/p>\n
The courtroom clash has revived scrutiny surrounding Altman\u2019s leadership and the chaotic governance crisis that nearly tore apart OpenAI at a critical moment in the global artificial intelligence race. Musk, one of OpenAI\u2019s original backers before leaving the company in 2018, has aggressively used the controversy to challenge Altman\u2019s credibility, referring to him publicly as \u201cSwindly Sam\u201d while accusing the company of betraying its founding principles.<\/p>\n
The trial carries enormous financial stakes. Musk argues that Microsoft, OpenAI\u2019s largest investor, helped transform the organization from a nonprofit research institution into a highly commercialized enterprise worth an estimated $852 billion. A legal victory for Musk could severely disrupt OpenAI\u2019s plans for a future public offering and reshape the ownership structure of one of the world\u2019s most influential AI companies.<\/p>\n
Former OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever also testified during the proceedings, criticizing the board\u2019s handling of the attempted coup. Sutskever described the process as rushed and said the directors involved lacked experience and received poor legal advice. He later reversed his support for Altman\u2019s removal and helped orchestrate his return before eventually departing OpenAI in 2024. Sutskever revealed during testimony that his personal stake in the company is now worth approximately $7 billion.<\/p>\n
The court proceedings have also exposed Microsoft\u2019s growing anxiety over its dependence on OpenAI\u2019s technology. Internal emails presented during the trial showed Nadella privately warning executives in 2022 that he feared Microsoft could become strategically subordinate to OpenAI, comparing the relationship to the historic partnership in which IBM helped create the conditions for Microsoft\u2019s rise decades earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be IBM and OpenAI to be Microsoft,\u201d Nadella wrote in one internal message discussing the company\u2019s expanding investment in AI. In another email to Microsoft finance chief Amy Hood, he expressed concern that OpenAI controlled most of the critical intellectual property while Microsoft remained \u201ca very thin layer on top of Nvidia.\u201d Nadella warned that investing billions without maintaining strategic control \u201cmade no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The testimony highlighted how dramatically the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI evolved over the years. Nadella admitted that Microsoft initially treated its support for OpenAI almost like a charitable effort by providing heavily discounted cloud computing services. But as OpenAI\u2019s computing costs skyrocketed, Microsoft\u2019s approach shifted toward aggressive commercial investment. During cross-examination, Nadella agreed with an attorney\u2019s characterization that the company eventually moved from \u201ccharity\u201d to business.<\/p>\n
Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, followed by another $2 billion in 2021 and a further $10 billion in 2023. Those investments helped transform OpenAI from a small research organization into one of the most powerful and valuable companies in the technology industry. Microsoft now owns roughly 27% of OpenAI, a stake estimated to be worth more than $200 billion.<\/p>\n
When questioned about whether the investment had ultimately benefited Microsoft, Nadella responded bluntly: \u201cBecause we were the only ones who took the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Satya Nadella delivered blistering testimony in court on Monday, describing the 2023 attempt by OpenAI\u2019s board to 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