The federal courtroom in Oakland, California, is doing something that no journalist has managed in nearly a decade: forcing Sam Altman, the most powerful figure in artificial intelligence, into the open.
The Musk v. Altman trial — now in its second week — has cracked open a sealed archive of internal emails, executive diaries, text messages, and depositions.
What’s emerging is a portrait the OpenAI CEO has spent years carefully managing: not the visionary builder of ChatGPT, but a leader his own former colleagues describe as deceptive, divisive, and at times “sociopathic” with the truth.
The same man whose Hawaii estate just went on and off the market for $49 million, whose home was hit with a Molotov cocktail in April, and who is currently facing both his ex-business partner and his ex-CTO under oath.
Key points:
- Musk seeks $150 billion in damages: trial entering closing arguments next week.
- Mira Murati’s deposition: former CTO testified Altman “created chaos” and was “deceptive” with executives.
- Greg Brockman’s diary entries: revealed in court, including a 2017 entry about “becoming a billionaire.”
- Anthropic merger talks: confirmed in court — OpenAI’s board tried to merge the company with Dario Amodei’s during the November 2023 crisis.
- $49 million Hawaii estate: listed and then removed from the market after the Molotov attack on Altman’s San Francisco home.
- April 2026 attack: 20-year-old Daniel Moreno-Gama charged with threatening Altman’s life.
- OpenAI valuation: reportedly $852 billion, with IPO ambitions approaching $1 trillion.
For anyone trying to understand who actually decides the future of AI, the trial has become essential viewing.
As we explained in our analysis of whether AI will replace all jobs, the answer depends heavily on a very small number of executives making decisions behind closed doors. The Musk v. Altman trial is exposing those decisions to public scrutiny for the first time.
Who Is Sam Altman, Really?
The Public Version
The public image of Sam Altman is relatively straightforward.
Born in 1985 and raised in St. Louis, Altman dropped out of Stanford to launch the location-based startup Loopt at just 19 years old. By 2014, he had become president of Y Combinator, one of the most influential startup accelerators in Silicon Valley.
In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI alongside Elon Musk and other tech figures, presenting it as a nonprofit focused on building AI for the benefit of humanity.
Then came ChatGPT in November 2022, triggering a global AI boom now measured in trillions of dollars.
As of May 2026, OpenAI is reportedly valued at $852 billion and preparing for a future IPO near the $1 trillion mark.
That’s the version investors and the public have largely seen.
The court record paints something very different.
The Courtroom Version
Over the past two weeks, testimony in Oakland has revealed a much darker portrait of Altman.
Mira Murati, OpenAI’s former Chief Technology Officer and briefly interim CEO during the 2023 leadership crisis, delivered a video deposition on May 6, 2026.
Asked about her concerns regarding Altman’s leadership, Murati did not hold back.
“My concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person. He was creating chaos and, at times, was deceptive with her and others.”
Murati’s testimony has become central to the trial, alongside private text messages exchanged during the November 2023 board crisis that reportedly show Altman scrambling to regain control.
Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner, who voted to remove Altman in 2023, also testified that she no longer trusted him because of what she described as “a history of lying.”
Meanwhile, former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever is expected to testify next week. His 52-page internal memo from 2023 allegedly accused Altman of repeatedly downplaying AI safety risks for commercial reasons.
The Brockman Diary and the Billionaire Question
While Altman has been at the center of the ethical accusations, OpenAI president Greg Brockman has become central to the financial side of the case.
During Brockman’s deposition, Musk’s legal team introduced excerpts from his personal electronic journal into evidence.
One 2017 entry reportedly reads:
“Financially, what will take me to $1B?”
Another entry from November 2017, written while OpenAI considered transitioning into a for-profit structure without Musk, stated:
“It’d be wrong to steal the nonprofit from him. To convert to a B-corp without him. That’d be pretty morally bankrupt.”
Musk’s attorney Steven Molo directly challenged Brockman during the proceedings:
“Why didn’t you take the $29 billion and donate it to the nonprofit that you had a fiduciary duty to, for the good of humanity?”
Brockman’s OpenAI stake is now estimated at roughly $30 billion.
Altman’s actual wealth is harder to quantify due to OpenAI’s private structure, but estimates place him in a similar range.
The Anthropic Twist: How OpenAI Almost Lost Control
The November 2023 Crisis
One of the biggest revelations from the trial is confirmation that OpenAI’s board explored a merger with rival company Anthropic during the five days Altman was removed as CEO in November 2023.
Court documents show that board members seriously discussed combining OpenAI with Anthropic under the leadership of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
The merger never materialized, partly due to tensions between executives and the enormous complexity of combining companies backed by Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
Still, the revelation changes how the entire 2023 crisis is understood.
It was not simply an internal disagreement. OpenAI was potentially on the verge of losing its independence entirely.
Why Musk Is Quietly Softening Toward Anthropic
Another surprising development in 2026 is Elon Musk’s changing attitude toward Anthropic.
After spending years publicly mocking the company on X, Musk has reportedly softened his stance for strategic reasons.
Part of it appears tied to the trial itself: positioning Anthropic as the “safer” alternative to Altman strengthens Musk’s legal narrative.
At the same time, Musk’s own AI company, xAI, faces enormous competition from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind.
Increasingly, Musk’s biggest focus appears to be SpaceX and a potential SpaceX+xAI public offering that could target a combined valuation near $1.75 trillion.
For Altman, the implication is obvious: he is no longer the uncontested face of AI.
The Personal Side of Sam Altman
Oliver Mulherin and the Private Marriage
Sam Altman’s private life has become a major topic of online searches in 2026.
Since January 2024, Altman has been married to Oliver Mulherin, an Australian software engineer from Melbourne.
Mulherin studied computer science at the University of Melbourne and previously worked at Meta as well as projects connected to the IOTA Foundation.
The wedding itself was kept so private that many people initially believed leaked images were AI-generated.
Altman later confirmed the marriage publicly after the photos had already gone viral.
The ceremony took place at the couple’s Hawaii estate and was officiated by Altman’s brother, Jack Altman.
The Hawaii Estate and Security Fears
In late 2025, Altman quietly attempted to sell his Hawaii estate for $49 million through an off-market deal.
The property, located in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, includes a private marina, helipad, and extensive beachfront land.
But in May 2026, the property was suddenly removed from the market.
The timing followed the attack on Altman’s San Francisco home and reportedly reflected growing security concerns for the Altman-Mulherin family.
Altman also owns a 950-acre ranch in Napa Valley purchased in 2020 for approximately $15.7 million.
The Molotov Attack on Altman’s Home
On April 10, 2026, a 20-year-old man from Texas named Daniel Moreno-Gama allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at Altman’s San Francisco residence.
According to the FBI complaint, Moreno-Gama traveled thousands of kilometers carrying a pistol, a knife, and documents describing AI as a threat to humanity.
No one was injured.
However, Altman later admitted publicly that he “no longer sleeps well at night.”
Days after the incident, additional shots were reportedly fired at the same home.
The story became even more disturbing online, where some anti-AI communities reportedly celebrated the attack.
Experts say the incident reflects how anxiety surrounding artificial intelligence is increasingly moving beyond internet debates and into real-world extremism.
What the Trial Means for OpenAI and the Future of AI
The Financial Stakes
The financial implications of the trial are enormous.
Musk is seeking up to $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, with the money intended for OpenAI’s original nonprofit entity.
He is also asking the court to:
- Remove Altman and Brockman from OpenAI leadership
- Reverse OpenAI’s restructuring into a public benefit corporation
- Undo Microsoft’s approximately $13 billion investment
The outcome could affect not only OpenAI’s future IPO plans, but potentially the broader AI investment market.
Growing Business Pressure
Even before a verdict, OpenAI is facing mounting business pressure.
Reports indicate that SoftBank reduced plans for a margin loan tied to its OpenAI stake after concerns over missed sales targets and slower-than-expected user growth.
Meanwhile, Anthropic continues gaining ground in enterprise AI and coding markets — two of the most profitable sectors in the industry.
At a recent AI event hosted by Sequoia Capital, Altman described younger users increasingly relying on ChatGPT as a personal operating system.
“People in college use it as an operating system. They don’t really make life decisions without asking ChatGPT what they should do.”
The comment highlighted both OpenAI’s ambitions and the deeper concerns raised during the trial about who exactly should wield that level of influence.
The Lawyer Defending Altman
Leading Altman’s defense is William Savitt, one of Wall Street’s most prominent litigators and co-chair of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Before becoming a top corporate attorney, Savitt worked as a cab driver and musician.
He later clerked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and built a reputation as one of America’s elite trial lawyers.
Before proceedings began, Savitt told Business Insider:
“The light of cross-examination is one of the greatest devices for the exposure of reality.”
Ironically, that cross-examination is now exposing his own client.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sam Altman
Who is Sam Altman married to?
Sam Altman has been married since January 2024 to Oliver Mulherin, an Australian software engineer originally from Melbourne. Mulherin previously worked at Meta and studied computer science at the University of Melbourne.
What is Sam Altman’s net worth in 2026?
Altman’s exact net worth is unknown because OpenAI remains private. However, analysts estimate his wealth could rival Greg Brockman’s estimated $30 billion stake, in addition to his real estate portfolio and investments in companies such as Helion Energy, Stoke Space, Cerebras, and Reddit.
What happened at Sam Altman’s house?
On April 10, 2026, Daniel Moreno-Gama allegedly attacked Altman’s San Francisco residence with a Molotov cocktail while carrying weapons and anti-AI documents. Federal authorities later charged him with multiple crimes.
What did Mira Murati say about Sam Altman?
Murati testified in May 2026 that Altman “created chaos” and was “deceptive” with colleagues, claiming he often told different executives contradictory things.
Will OpenAI survive the trial?
Most analysts believe OpenAI will survive regardless of the verdict, although governance changes, financial penalties, or restructuring requirements remain possible.
Conclusion: The Bigger Question Is Power
The Musk v. Altman trial has exposed more than the internal dysfunction of a major tech company.
It has revealed how a very small number of unelected executives now hold enormous influence over labor markets, education, geopolitics, and the future of human decision-making.
As media executive Barry Diller recently told TechCrunch:
“The issue is dealing truly with the unknown. They don’t know what can happen once you get AGI, and we’re close to it.”
The courtroom battle may focus on Sam Altman personally, but the deeper issue is much larger.
Executives like Altman, Musk, Dario Amodei, Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and Mark Zuckerberg are shaping the future of society without democratic oversight.
And as the trial has demonstrated, even many of the people working alongside them often no longer trust one another.
For workers watching AI reshape industries — from mass layoffs in tech to automation pressures across the economy — the trial represents something rare: a direct look at how the people building the future behave when they believe no one is watching.
Closing arguments begin next week.
Whatever the final verdict, one thing is already certain: the carefully managed public image of Sam Altman has changed permanently.
The court record now exists.
And this time, the public can read it.