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Elon Musk positioned himself as a leading advocate for AI safety in court this week, contrasting with his portrayal of profit-driven OpenAI. The resolution of the debate over his motivations could be key to the lawsuit's outcome.

Musk Advocates for AI Safety

Elon Musk portrayed himself in court this week as a leading advocate for AI safety, contrasting with what he described as a profit-consumed OpenAI, which he is suing. Musk argued that the only way to prevent AI from "killing us all" is to keep it out of the hands of anyone trying to make money from it. He claimed to have met with then-President Obama in 2015 to explain his fears about AI and spoke to "anyone and everyone" about AI safety. However, he later acknowledged that his own AI company, xAI, is a for-profit entity.

OpenAI Counters Musk's Motivations

OpenAI's lead counsel, William Savitt, presented a different picture during his cross-examination of Musk. Savitt implied that Musk was at least as concerned, if not more, with profiting from Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) than the OpenAI team. He suggested that Musk's safety concerns seemed to intensify whenever someone else was in control. Savitt also hinted at issues with Musk's Grok chatbot, implying it had been trained on racist and sexist content, further challenging Musk's self-proclaimed role as a "paladin of safety and regulation."

*Source: Axios (2026-04-30)*

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