The first week of the Musk v. Altman trial surfaces new testimony about OpenAI’s origins and xAI’s model-distillation practices. It matters less as a technical breakthrough than as a window into the legal and strategic fault lines shaping frontier AI.

In the first week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk took the stand in a crisp black suit and tie and argued that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into bankrolling the company. Along the way, he warned that AI could destroy us all and sat through...