Sam Altman was winning on the stand, but it might not be enough

A striking development has emerged in artificial intelligence. AI AIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All AI OpenAI OpenAIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All OpenAISam Altman was winning on the stand, but it might not be enoughElon Musk may have done more long-term reputational damage to the OpenAI CEO.

by Elizabeth Lopatto Elizabeth LopattoSenior ReporterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Elizabeth LopattoMay 12, 2026, 11:23 PM UTC Who, me? | Image: The Verge; Getty Images AI AIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

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FollowSee All AI OpenAI OpenAIPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All OpenAISam Altman was winning on the stand, but it might not be enoughElon Musk may have done more long-term reputational damage to the OpenAI CEO. by Elizabeth Lopatto Elizabeth LopattoSenior ReporterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.

FollowSee All by Elizabeth LopattoMay 12, 2026, 11:23 PM UTC Part OfLive updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAIsee all updates Elizabeth Lopatto Elizabeth LopattoPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. FollowSee All by Elizabeth Lopatto is a reporter who writes about tech, money, and human behavior. She joined The Verge in 2014 as science editor.

Previously, she was a reporter at Bloomberg. After two weeks of hearing from assorted witnesses that he was a lying snake, the jury finally heard from the lying snake himself: Sam Altman. At the end of the testimony, his lawyer William Savitt asked him how it felt to be accused of stealing a charity.

Industry Implications

“We created, through a ton of hard work, this extremely large charity, and I agree you can’t steal it,” Altman said. Musk did try to kill it, I guess. AltmanA free, limited-run newsletter about the biggest moments from the Musk v.

Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Altman was fully in “nice kid from St.

Louis” mode, and did a passable impression of a man who was bewildered at what was happening to him. When he stepped down from the stand holding a stack of evidence binders, he even looked a little like a schoolboy. He seemed nervous at the beginning of his direct testimony, though he warmed up fairly quickly.

This advance offers important signals about the future of the sector, and the tech world is watching closely.