Ilya Sutskever testifies to 52-page file on Sam Altman's 'pattern of lying'

Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever testified he spent a year documenting CEO Sam Altman's dishonesty.

According to Reuters, Ilya Sutskever gave his testimony in a California courtroom on Monday. He confirmed he considered removing Sam Altman as CEO for at least a year before the vote.

The 38-year-old AI pioneer told the court he spent that time gathering evidence. He prepared a lengthy document for the ChatGPT maker's board about Altman's conduct.

Sutskever said Altman displayed a "consistent pattern of lying." The document he prepared to prove this reportedly ran for a staggering 52 pages.

He testified that Altman's actions were "not conducive to any grand goal." This included the primary mission of creating safe artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

He also confirmed the CEO’s alleged conduct included "undermining and pitting executives against one another." He had discussed this with his colleagues "for a long time."

For those unversed, Sutskever played a key role in Altman's dramatic firing in November 2023. He was on the board that helped orchestrate the shocking ousting. However, he later publicly expressed regret over his "participation in the board's actions." Sutskever then voted to reinstate Altman, who quickly returned to his role.

During his explosive testimony, Sutskever also disclosed his immense personal wealth. His stake in OpenAI is currently estimated to be worth a staggering $7 billion. After his high-profile departure from OpenAI in May 2024, he co-founded a new venture. The startup is called Safe Superintelligence Inc. and focuses solely on AI safety.

It was also revealed the board spoke with rival firm Anthropic. They discussed a potential merger after Altman's brief ouster, but Sutskever said he was "not excited" about it.

The testimony comes during a high-stakes trial initiated by Elon Musk. Musk has accused OpenAI and Altman of abandoning the company’s original nonprofit mission for profit.

Earlier in the trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also took the stand. He characterised the tech giant's multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI as a "calculated risk."

Other OpenAI figures, including president Greg Brockman and CTO Mira Murati, have already testified. Closing arguments for the trial are expected to happen on Thursday.