Yesterday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stand in US District Court in Oakland, California, where he testified about his relationship with Elon Musk, Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI, and more. The executive indicated that he has never received a clear explanation from the company's board of directors why Sam Altman was briefly ousted as OpenAI CEO.
At the time, reports emerged suggesting that Satya Nadella was blindsided by the move. He further revealed that he wasn't told about the decision to fire Altman in advance, and was only pulled out of a meeting and informed about the ouster after the fact.
The board members had revealed that Altman wasn’t consistently candid with his leadership, operations, and efforts (via CNBC). However, Satya Nadella dismissed these claims, suggesting that there was more than meets the eye, further indicating that “[t]here may have been some jealousy … coming through.” — “It was sort of amateur city, as far as I’m concerned,” Nadella added.
Elon Musk has accused OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman of defrauding him out of billions of dollars that he invested in OpenAI using a fake humanitarian mission. He also added Microsoft to the fold, claiming that the tech giant helped Altman and Brockman defraud him.
Interestingly, Nadella testified that Elon Musk never reached out about issues with Microsoft's deal with OpenAI, although they have each other's phone numbers. He even showed the jurors an email Musk had sent him, thanking him for financial and computing support for OpenAI in 2016: "Very much appreciated," Musk indicated in the email. "Will make sure that people know about Microsoft's help."
Satya Nadella indicated that Elon Musk didn't raise any issues when the company initially made a $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019. Similarly, he remained quiet when the news broke that Microsoft's investment stake in OpenAI had risen to $10 billion.
Nadella indicated that he was “very proud” that Microsoft took the risk to invest in OpenAI when “no one else was willing” to bet on the ever-evolving technology and OpenAI. The Microsoft executive further revealed that the company took a $15 million loss by letting OpenAI use Azure at a discount to power ChatGPT.
With this in mind, Nadella's testimony in the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial, the billionaire only began complaining about Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership after he filed the 2024 lawsuit. This also seemingly supports the theory and speculation that Musk is a sore loser, as he tries to compete against ChatGPT with Grok.
There may have been some jealousy coming through.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO
Nadella was also questioned about his "It wouldn't matter if OpenAI disappeared tomorrow" remark amid tension between Microsoft and OpenAI. "We have the data, IP rights, and all the capability." —"We are below them, above them, around them," Nadella added.
The statement was viewed as "a new war slogan" by some of the executive's fans. While this might be used by Musk's legal team to support his premise about donating $38 million to a charitable cause, only for OpenAI to evolve into a for-profit venture, abandoning its founding mission.
While on the stand, Nadella indicated that he used the statement to calm concerns about Altman's sudden ouster as CEO. "It goes back to me trying to communicate as clearly as possible to customers that they can count on us," Nadella indicated, suggesting that Copilot and other OpenAI products would continue, regardless of OpenAI's situation. We'll see.
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