Musk Testifies About Larry Page Rift as Motivation for OpenAI Founding

Elon Musk testified in his lawsuit against OpenAI on Tuesday that a falling-out with Google co-founder Larry Page over AI safety was a core motivation in co-founding the artificial intelligence company. Musk told the court that a conversation in which he raised the prospect of AI wiping out humanity led Page to dismiss the concern as fine, so long as AI itself survived. Musk said Page called him a speciest for being pro human and described the attitude as insane. The testimony adds context to Musk’s longstanding public statements about AI existential risk and his legal claims that OpenAI has deviated from its original safety-focused mission. The two executives were once close friends. Fortune included them on its 2016 list of secretly best-friend business leaders. Musk regularly stayed at Page’s Palo Alto home, and Page once told Charlie Rose in an interview that he would rather give his money to Musk than to charity. The friendship ended when Musk recruited Google AI researcher Ilya Sutskever in 2015 to help launch OpenAI. Page reportedly felt personally betrayed by the move and cut off contact with Musk. Musk has told this story before, including to author Walter Isaacson for his biography of Musk, but Tuesday marked the first time he presented it under oath. Page has not commented publicly on Musk’s account. As recently as 2023, Musk told podcaster Lex Fridman that he wanted to repair the relationship, saying, We were friends for a very long time.