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Nadella Testifies in Musk–OpenAI Trial

Nadella says Microsoft backed OpenAI without steering its decisions.

Overview

  • Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stand Monday in Oakland and told jurors that OpenAI remained independent even as Microsoft poured money and cloud resources into the partnership.
  • Elon Musk accuses OpenAI leaders of breaching a charitable trust and seeks to force governance changes along with as much as $150 billion in damages.
  • Internal Microsoft emails from January 2018 show Nadella questioning discounts for OpenAI on Azure and the value of its research before Microsoft invested $1 billion in 2019 and later committed about $13 billion.
  • Ilya Sutskever testified that he had considered pushing out Sam Altman for at least a year before the 2023 ouster attempt and disclosed an ownership stake he valued at about $7 billion.
  • An advisory jury is set to weigh liability the week of May 18, after which the judge will decide remedies that could reshape OpenAI’s structure and delay any public listing.