Elon Musk’s only expert witness at the OpenAI trial fears an AGI arms race

Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI put AI safety at center stage, with scholar Stuart Russell warning that the race to AGI can push frontier labs toward risky behavior.

Russell argued that competition for advanced AI can undermine safety, even as OpenAI said his testimony did not address its corporate policies directly.

The dispute reflects a bigger fight over whether OpenAI’s move toward for-profit funding is compatible with its original safety mission.

The case also underscores a broader tension in AI policy: building massive capital-intensive systems while trying to slow down dangerous AGI development.