Murati testimony: Altman sowed “chaos,” was “at times deceptive”

Summary

Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s recorded testimony was played in the Musk v. OpenAI trial. Key claims: Altman told different things to different people, pitted executives against each other, undermined her role as CTO. Alleged Altman incorrectly told her legal had cleared a model to bypass the internal safety board. “OpenAI was at catastrophic risk of falling apart.” When asked if Altman was truthful, she said “no.”

Implications

This is the most damaging insider testimony yet. Murati isn’t Musk’s ally — she’s OpenAI’s former CTO testifying under oath. The safety board bypass allegation is particularly significant: it suggests internal safety governance was navigated around rather than through. For the enterprise battleground thread: enterprise customers evaluating OpenAI vs Anthropic now have sworn testimony about OpenAI’s internal governance quality. The trial moves to OpenAI’s witnesses in week 3 — Altman and Nadella expected on the stand. Liability verdict projected ~May 21, same week as TC39 and I/O.