According to the latest court disclosures, Ilya Sutskever, the former Chief Scientist of OpenAI, appeared as a key witness in the case where Musk sued OpenAI. His testimony not only confirmed that the "coup" that shocked the tech world in 2023 was not a spontaneous act, but also revealed long-standing trust issues within the company's leadership.

The Long-Planned "Ousting of Sam"

Sutskever testified in court that he had already begun collecting evidence of Sam Altman's "dishonest behavior" a year before the brief ousting incident in November 2023. According to his account, this secret document, compiled at the request of the board, was 52 pages long and detailed how Altman manipulated company decisions through a "consistent pattern of lying."

The document listed specific details: Altman was accused of frequently sowing discord among executives, undermining others' authority, and concealing critical facts from the board. A typical example was when Altman unilaterally claimed that GPT-4 Turbo did not require review by the safety committee, citing approval from the legal department, only for this claim to be immediately debunked by the company's chief legal officer.

The Collapse of the Foundation of Integrity

Sutskever believed that Altman's behavior had seriously threatened OpenAI's core mission of safely developing general artificial intelligence (AGI). He bluntly stated, "Sam should not be the one holding the button." In his view, an organization filled with deception and internal conflict could never be trusted with a technology like AGI, which has the power to change human destiny.

The testimony also revealed deep-seated conflicts between the two on technical direction and resource allocation. Documents showed that Sutskever was deeply dissatisfied with the competition for computing resources between the research and application departments, while Altman's rapid promotion of certain researchers further widened the rift.

The Balance of Power in a Multi-Faction Struggle

Musk's legal team used this 52-page memo as key evidence, attempting to convince the judge that Altman had lost the moral foundation to lead the company and requested the court to force him to step down. Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Nadella appeared more pragmatic, describing his company's substantial investment in OpenAI as a "calculated risk."