2026年4月29日 / 美国东部时间下午6:37 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
埃隆·马斯克周三在法庭上表示，自己为资助ChatGPT开发商OpenAI一事是个“傻瓜”。
这位特斯拉和SpaceX的亿万富翁创始人在自己对OpenAI提起的诉讼中作证称，在得到OpenAI首席执行官山姆·奥特曼的保证后，他继续为OpenAI提供资金，该公司将保持非营利性质。但马斯克表示，他后来开始对公司的发展方向产生怀疑，并觉得自己遭到了背叛。
马斯克在民事诉讼中指控OpenAI、奥特曼以及OpenAI总裁格雷格·布罗克曼违背了这家人工智能公司的创始协议，将盈利置于承诺之上——即让OpenAI保持非营利性质，致力于人类进步。
这场审判目前正在美国加利福尼亚州北区联邦地区法院进行，于周一启动，预计将持续约四周。
（法庭速写：埃隆·马斯克在加利福尼亚州奥克兰的法庭证人席上。马斯克指控OpenAI背弃了其保持非营利性、致力于造福人类的创始使命。 维基·贝林格 绘）
马斯克在2015年12月至2017年5月期间为OpenAI提供了3800万美元的资金。如今这家人工智能公司的估值已超过850亿美元。
OpenAI的律师驳斥了马斯克的指控，称公司领导层从未承诺过OpenAI将永远保持非营利性质。该公司还辩称，马斯克的法律诉讼旨在削弱OpenAI的快速增长，同时扶持马斯克2023年推出的竞品人工智能公司xAI。
激烈的交叉盘问
在交叉盘问环节，马斯克多次反驳提问。OpenAI的律师威廉·萨维特询问了马斯克在2015年OpenAI成立前撰写的邮件，其中包括将其打造为标准营利性公司是否更好，以及他对该非营利组织的捐赠是否可享受税收减免。
“你的问题并不简单，”马斯克说，“本质上就是想诱骗我。”他表示，任何简单的回答都会误导陪审团。
法官伊冯·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯介入，要求马斯克直接回答“OpenAI于2015年12月以非营利形式成立”这一表述是真是假。马斯克表示这一表述属实，但补充说问题并不总是这么简单，他将其比作“你是否已经停止殴打妻子”这类陷阱问题。
“我们不会讨论这个话题，”法官回应道，法庭内随即响起笑声。
事关重大
尽管庭审中出现了几段轻松的插曲，但这场审判的利害关系重大，可能会重塑人工智能领域的权力格局。马斯克的诉讼旨在将奥特曼赶下OpenAI的董事会。如果马斯克胜诉，还可能打乱OpenAI的首次公开募股计划。
马斯克停止为该公司提供资金的决定，导致这两位昔日盟友之间产生了激烈的裂痕，这在整个审判过程中都显露无遗。周三，马斯克表示，他对奥特曼和其他OpenAI联合创始人的看法经历了三个阶段——从最初的兴奋，到失去信心，再到2022年末的某个时期，当时他心想“等等，这帮家伙正在背弃他们的承诺”。
OpenAI的律师称，马斯克曾试图独自掌控该公司。
马斯克多次作证称，尽管他最初寻求获得OpenAI的多数股权以及7个董事会席位中的4个，但随着OpenAI发展壮大、引入更多股东，他的股份最终会被稀释。他将此比作自己在特斯拉的持股比例——他表示，在二十多年前创立这家电动汽车制造商时，他最初持有多数股权，而如今这一比例约为15%。
但OpenAI方面称，从未有过马斯克最终会放弃董事会多数席位的保证。
Elon Musk tells court he was a “fool” for funding OpenAI
April 29, 2026 / 6:37 PM EDT / CBS/AP
Elon Musk told a court on Wednesday that he was a “fool” for providing funding to launch ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Testifying in a case he brought against OpenAI, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX said he continued to finance OpenAI after receiving assurances from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that the company would remain a nonprofit. However, Musk said he began to have doubts about the company’s direction and said he later felt betrayed.
Musk alleged in his civil lawsuit that OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman reneged on the AI company’s founding agreement by prioritizing profit over a promise to keep OpenAI as a nonprofit dedicated to human progress.
The trial, playing out in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, started Monday and is expected to last about four weeks.
Court sketch of Elon Musk on the witness stand in a courtroom in Oakland, California. Musk accuses OpenAI of betraying its founding mission to remain a nonprofit dedicated to benefitting humanity. Vicki Behringer
Musk contributed $38 million in funding to OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017. The AI company is now valued at more than $85 billion.
Lawyers for OpenAI reject Musk’s allegations, saying that company leaders never promised it would remain a nonprofit forever. The company has argued Musk’s legal challenge is aimed at undercutting OpenAI’s rapid growth and bolstering Musk’s xAI, which he launched in 2023 as a competitor.
Heated cross-examination
During cross-examination, Musk repeatedly pushed back on questions. OpenAI lawyer William Savitt asked about emails Musk wrote before OpenAI’s founding in 2015, including whether it would be better to make it a standard for-profit company and whether tax deductions would apply to his donations to the nonprofit.
“Your questions are not simple,” Musk said. “They are designed to trick me essentially.” Any simple answer, he said, would be misleading the jury.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stepped in, asking Musk to answer whether it’s true or false that OpenAI was formed as a nonprofit in December 2015. Musk said in that case, the answer was yes, but added that it is not always simple, comparing it to asking “have you stopped beating your wife?”
“We are not going to go there,” the judge replied, to laughs in the courtroom.
High stakes
Despite moments of levity, the stakes are high at the trial, which could sway the balance of power in artificial intelligence. Musk’s lawsuit seeks to oust Altman from OpenAI’s board. If Musk wins, it could also derail OpenAI’s plans for an initial public offering.
Musk’s decision to stop funding the company contributed to a bitter falling out between the former allies that’s been evident throughout the trial. On Wednesday, Musk said his views on Altman and his OpenAI cofounders had three phases — from initial excitement to losing confidence to a period in late 2022 when he thought “wait a second, these guys are betraying their promise.”
Lawyers for OpenAI have said Musk sought to control the company for himself.
Musk repeatedly testified that while he initially sought a majority stake in OpenAI and control of four out of seven board seats, this would eventually be diluted when OpenAI grew and gained more shareholders. He compared it to his stake in Tesla, which he said is now around 15% after he initially had a majority stake when the electric car maker was founded over two decades ago.
OpenAI, however, claims there were no assurances that he would eventually relinquish his board majority.
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