Jury Selection in Musk vs. Altman: Turns Out People Really Don’t Like Him

The courtroom drama between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over OpenAI’s alleged broken promises finally got underway on Monday. And if you thought the legal arguments would be the main event, think again. Jury selection stole the show.

Elizabeth Lopatto from The Verge was in the room, and she shared some of the juicier responses from the juror questionnaires. Spoiler: they aren’t kind to Musk.

“Elon Musk is a greedy, racist, homophobic piece of garbage.”
“Elon Musk is a world-class jerk.”
“I very much dislike Tesla. As a woman of color, I am very aware of the damaging statements and actions Elon Musk has enacted and been a part of.”

Ouch. The man has a PR problem, and it’s not subtle. I’ve covered enough tech trials to know that jury selection is always a gamble, but this feels like a particularly bad hand for Musk. When potential jurors are openly calling you a “piece of garbage” before the trial even starts, you’re not exactly starting from a neutral position.

This is higher than I’d expect for a typical high-profile case. Usually, jurors try to play it safe and claim they can be impartial. But here, people are dropping truth bombs about Musk’s public persona. The guy has made himself a lightning rod with his Twitter antics, his controversial statements about race and gender, and his general “I don’t care what you think” attitude. That might work for building a brand or rallying fans, but it’s poison in a courtroom.

The case itself is about whether OpenAI broke its founding promises when it shifted from a non-profit to a for-profit model. Musk, who was an early investor and board member, claims Altman and the company misled him and the public. Altman’s side will likely argue that Musk knew what was happening and is just bitter he didn’t get more control.

But the jury’s perception of Musk could be the wild card. If they already see him as a greedy jerk, his arguments about broken promises might not land well. On the other hand, if Altman’s team can paint Musk as a sore loser, the jury might side with OpenAI just to spite him. Either way, the man’s reputation is doing him no favors.

I’ve seen this play out before. Remember when Musk tried to back out of the Twitter acquisition? The court basically had to force him to go through with it because his legal arguments were weak and his public behavior made him look unreliable. Now, in a case where credibility matters, he’s walking into a room full of people who already think he’s a world-class jerk.

Altman’s team probably couldn’t have asked for a better start. The jury pool is already primed to doubt Musk’s sincerity. And let’s be real: Musk’s legal team is going to have a hell of a time picking a jury that doesn’t hate him. They’ll probably have to strike half the panel just to get a few people who haven’t called him names on Twitter.

The trial is just getting started, but this opening act tells me one thing: Musk’s biggest enemy in this courtroom isn’t Sam Altman. It’s himself.