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Musk v. Altman Jury Is Seated as OpenAI Trial Opens
Description
A nine-person Oakland jury is in place for Musk v. Altman, with opening statements next and the judge retaining final say. The case now turns from celebrity bias to charitable-trust and unjust-enrichment claims over OpenAI’s nonprofit-to-profit shift.
In this episode
- Musk v. Altman Seats Jury Before OpenAI Arguments — Implicator
Musk v. Altman Seats Jury Before OpenAI Arguments Monday, April 27, 2026 · San Francisco U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers seated a nine-person jury Monday in Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman, OpenAI, Greg Brockman and Microsoft at the federal courthouse in Oakland, California. Opening statements are set for Tuesday, April 28. Lawyers spent most of Monday probing whether…
“Imagine dragging a dozen people in plus alternates, ask them to put their lives on hold, to decide which billionaire gets to ruin the world with AI further while getting richer...” — r/law (188 upvotes)
Our take: That cynicism lands because voir dire is asking ordinary people to pause their lives for a fight between some of the most powerful people in tech. The legal question is narrower than “which billionaire gets AI,” but the public mood is very much not.
“Lawyer:Do you have an opinion of Mr. Musk? Potential Juror: I saw him make several Nazi salutes at the presidential inauguration on TV. I have a poor opinion of him. Lawyer: We will need to dismiss this juror and all the other jurors who just heard that.” — r/law (101 upvotes)
Our take: It’s a darkly perfect jury-selection nightmare: one prospective juror’s answer can become everyone else’s new fact pattern. The whole exercise is trying to find people who can judge documents and testimony, not the cultural blast radius around Musk.
“It's not that I want Altman to win but more that I want Musk to lose.” — r/law (20 upvotes)
Our take: That is exactly the kind of sentiment both sides have to surface before openings. You don’t need to love Altman or OpenAI to be disqualified; the issue is whether the starting point is already “Musk must lose.”