Nadella says Musk never asked him about Microsoft deals

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stand in the Musk v. Altman trial on Monday, where he testified that Elon Musk never contacted him with concerns that Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI were in violation of any special terms or commitments.

Nadella, wearing a navy suit with a blue tie, concluded his testimony in federal court in Oakland, California, after several hours of questioning. He answered questions about the early days of Microsoft’s strategic partnership with OpenAI, his understanding of the company’s relationship and his role during the chaotic few days were Sam Altman was briefly ousted as CEO of OpenAI.

In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, its CEO, Sam Altman, and its president, Greg Brockman, alleging that they went back on their vow to protect the artificial intelligence company’s nonprofit structure and follow its charitable mission. Microsoft is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as Musk accuses the company of aiding and abetting OpenAI’s purported breach of charitable trust. 

Microsoft has been one of OpenAI’s major backers since 2019, years before the company rocketed into the mainstream with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. Microsoft’s more than $13 billion worth of investments in OpenAI, including a $1 billion investment in 2019, a $2 billion investment in 2021 and $10 billion in 2023, have come up repeatedly over the course of the trial. 

Nadella said he was “very proud” that Microsoft took the risk to invest in OpenAI when “no one else was willing” to bet on the fledgling lab.

Musk, who testified late last month, said Microsoft’s $10 billion investment was the key tipping point that made him believe OpenAI was violating its nonprofit mission. He testified that the scale of the investment bothered him, and it prompted him to open a legal investigation into OpenAI. 

“I was concerned they were really trying to steal the charity,” Musk said from the stand.

Nadella said from the stand that he did not believe Microsoft’s investments in OpenAI were donations, and that there was a clear commercial element to their partnership from the outset.

He said during the partnership’s early years, Microsoft gave OpenAI sharp discounts on computing resources, and Microsoft believed it would reap marketing benefits from doing so.

During a separate video deposition that was played on Monday morning, Michael Wetter, a corporate development executive at Microsoft, said the company has recognized approximately $9.5 billion in revenue to date through its partnership with OpenAI.

Musk co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman, Brockman and a handful of other executives and researchers in 2015. After a number of disagreements about OpenAI’s direction, including a failed effort to join it with his automaker Tesla, Musk left the OpenAI board in 2018. He went on to launch a competing AI startup, xAI, which he merged with SpaceX earlier this year. 

OpenAI established a for-profit subsidiary in the months following Musk’s departure, which allowed the…