Elon Musk’s worst enemy in court is Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s testimony in the OpenAI lawsuit was met with a tough cross-examination that repeatedly highlighted inconsistencies in his prior statements.

Defense counsel focused on Musk’s push for majority control, his decision to stop funding OpenAI, and his move to recruit Andrej Karpathy to Tesla.

Emails and earlier comments were used to suggest Musk may have seen OpenAI’s nonprofit structure as a mistake, undercutting his credibility.

The testimony could shape how jurors view whether Musk acted out of mission concerns or sought control and competitive advantage.