An OpenAI executive testified about a tense 2018 clash with Elon Musk, including claims over AI safety and talent conflict.
Tension inside Silicon Valley’s AI race didn’t just play out in strategy memos; it also landed in the courtroom, where an OpenAI executive described an exchange with Elon Musk that turned sharply personal.
Joshua Achiam. OpenAI’s chief futurist. told a federal jury on Wednesday about a heated moment in 2018 when Musk called him a “jackass” during testimony in a California civil trial involving Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.. Achiam described the confrontation as “pretty tense,” saying Musk “snapped and called me a jackass.”
Achiam said the scene unfolded around an OpenAI all-hands meeting in February 2018. He testified that roughly 50 to 60 employees had gathered for a question-and-answer session ahead of Musk’s planned departure from the startup he co-founded with Altman.
According to Achiam. Musk told the room he was leaving because Tesla—Musk’s electric-vehicle company—would soon compete with OpenAI for “elite AI talent.” Achiam said Musk framed this as a “conflict of interest. ” and he also expressed what Achiam characterized as a broader lack of confidence in OpenAI’s overall direction.
Achiam further told the jury that Musk wanted to “go and do his own thing,” pursuing AGI in his “own way.” In Achiam’s account, the difference wasn’t just about approach, but about urgency: Musk appeared to want to accelerate the path toward AGI.
The executive said Musk was worried that if someone else reached AGI first, they might misuse it. Achiam described how that concern fed Musk’s apparent push to “race towards AGI” by building it “very fast,” and he said the speed implied a riskier stance on timing.
Achiam told jurors that he and some colleagues viewed that rush as unsafe. He said the idea of sprinting toward AGI amounted to a “fairly unsafe proposition,” and he characterized Musk’s proposal as “reckless.”
At the heart of the dispute. Achiam described fears that the speed implied could resemble an extreme scenario rather than a controlled progression.. He told the jury they did not know whether a “science fiction super intelligence bootstrapping” event—where an advanced system could rapidly develop capabilities overnight—was truly plausible.
When asked by an OpenAI lawyer whether Musk might have been trying to push Achiam out of his “comfort zone” through the insult. Achiam testified that he did not believe that was the reason.. “I don’t think that was why he called me that. ” he told the jury. explaining instead that Musk seemed upset because he had been challenged.
After the meeting, Achiam said he told jurors that colleagues later expressed their gratitude to him. At the next company all-hands, he testified that he was presented with a trophy meant to “commemorate the exchange,” as well as “in thanks for having stood up to Elon.”
The trophy Achiam described was a gold statue depicting a “jackass. ” bearing an inscription that read: “Never stop being a jackass for safety.” The image. as Achiam recounted it. captured the internal stance he said OpenAI staff took on how AI should be approached—especially when the conversation turned to the risks of moving too quickly.
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