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Mira Murati Testifies in Elon Musk Lawsuit Against OpenAI
Former OpenAI executive Mira Murati told a federal court that Sam Altman was deceptive with colleagues and sowed distrust among top executives. Her video testimony came in the second week of Elon Musk’s 2024 lawsuit seeking up to $180 billion in damages and the unwinding of OpenAI’s for-profit structure.
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Mira Murati testified by video on Wednesday May 6 2026 in federal court in Oakland, California during the second week of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI. She said Sam Altman created chaos, was deceptive with her and others, and sowed distrust among top executives. “My concern was about Sam saying one thing to one person and completely the opposite to another person,” Murati stated.
She added that her issues with Sam Altman were very much around management. Murati briefly served as CEO of OpenAI after Sam Altman was temporarily fired by the board in November 2023. She supported an effort to bring Altman back as CEO and pressed board members for a fuller explanation of why they ousted him.
“I realized the board had not followed a process that could be trusted with regards to firing Sam,” she said. Murati kept in close contact with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the period after Altman’s ouster. Microsoft is no longer paying part of its revenue to OpenAI.
Competing AI companies Google and Elon Musk’s xAI tried to recruit OpenAI staff during the chaos after Altman’s firing. Murati texted Satya Nadella: “Very important we don’t lose researches to Demis or Elon,” referring to Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind and Elon Musk.
Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner said in video testimony played on May 6 2026 that Mira Murati was two-faced about Altman’s firing.
Elon Musk filed the lawsuit against OpenAI in 2024 accusing Altman and Greg Brockman of betraying the founding contract by prioritizing commercial gain over public benefit. Musk is seeking up to $180 billion in damages and a court order to unwind OpenAI’s for-profit status and remove Altman from the board.
The Times reported Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages to be paid by OpenAI and Microsoft.
In testimony last week, Elon Musk said he had been a “fool” to trust Altman. OpenAI has rejected Musk’s allegations and claims Musk supported its transformation into a for-profit business. Murati has since left OpenAI and co-founded her own AI startup called Thinking Machines Lab.
