Musk Testifies Under Oath That AI Safety Dispute With Larry Page Helped Spark OpenAI

Elon Musk took the stand in his lawsuit against OpenAI, revealing that a falling-out with Google co-founder Larry Page over AI safety was a key motivation for co-founding the company. Musk testified that Page dismissed the prospect of AI posing an existential threat to humanity, and accused Musk of being anti-AI for prioritizing human survival.

The dispute ended what had been one of Silicon Valley’s closest friendships. The relationship fractured further when Musk recruited Google AI researcher Ilya Sutskever to help launch OpenAI in 2015, which Page reportedly took as a personal betrayal.

While Musk had shared this account previously, Tuesday marked the first time he did so under oath. Page has not responded publicly.