The bizarre and messy court battle between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former OpenAI investor Elon Musk trudges on. And this week, as revealed in court, OpenAI’s former Chief Technology Office had some extremely interesting — and at points, alarming — things to say about her time working under Altman.
Appearing in a video deposition on Wednesday, former OpenAI CTO and current Thinking Machines Lab CEO Mira Murati, while under threat of perjury, had much to say about Altman’s long-alleged perfidy — a rumored trait so widely discussed that it was the subject of a remarkable investigation by The New Yorker just last month.
Perhaps most strikingly, Murati reportedly told lawyers during her deposition that Altman once incorrectly told her that OpenAI’s legal team had cleared a new AI model to bypass an internal safety board tasked with reviewing new models before release. Asked whether she believed Altman “was telling the truth when he made that statement” to Murati, the former CTO hit back with a simple: “no.”
In other words: under oath, the former CTO — and briefly interim CEO — of the company behind the world’s most popular chatbot, ChatGPT, said that OpenAI’s still-reigning head exec falsely told her that lawyers had greenlit the company to leapfrog over certain safety protocols when, to the then-CTO’s understanding, that wasn’t true. Yikes!
counsel: “by fall of 2023 did you percieve altman was not candid with you? truthful? honest?”
murati: (very long pause) “not always”
counsel: did he undermine you as CTO?
Murati: yes.
counsel: did he pit other execs against one another?
murati: yes.
— rat king
(@MikeIsaac) May 6, 2026
Altman is the defendant in the case brought by Musk, who’s claiming that OpenAI illegally betrayed the company’s non-profit founding by transfiguring into a for-profit company last year. (Musk runs his own for-profit AI company, xAI, so make of his motivations what you will.)
Much of the court battle has centered on the event that insiders have referred to as the “Blip,” or the dizzying multi-day spell in November 2023 when OpenAI’s board suddenly pushed Altman out, alleging he “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board” as its reason for the shock firing. After pushback from staff and intervention from key OpenAI investor Microsoft, however, Altman was rehired just days later — a triumphant return that kicked off a domino-like chain of other departures, Murati’s included.
Murati was grilled about her experience of Altman in the lead-up to the “Blip,” with lawyers reportedly asking her if “by fall of 2023, did you perceive Altman was not candid with you? Truthful? Honest?”
“Not always,” Murati responded.
Lawyers went on to ask if Altman “undermined” Murati in her role as CTO and whether Altman pitted “other execs against one another,” both questions to which Murati straightforwardly responded: “yes.”
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