Microsoft boss to testify on his role in OpenAI’s founding

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is expected to take the stand Monday in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, to explain emails that revealed how his company funded the ChatGPT creator’s shift from philanthropic organization to for-profit AI giant.

Nadella’s testimony will precede that of OpenAI boss Sam Altman, whose questioning — likely on Tuesday or Wednesday — will be one of the final stages in a closely watched trial before a federal jury in Oakland, California.

The trial has laid bare the internal strife within a circle of elite Silicon Valley engineers, investors and executives in the years leading up to the high-profile launch of the ChatGPT chatbot in 2022.

In his lawsuit, Musk accuses OpenAI of betraying its original nonprofit…