Musk says he’s saving humanity as he battles Altman in court - but it may actually be xAI

April 29, 2026 — 3:30pm

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The court battle between the titans of artificial intelligence, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, always threatened to create a circus atmosphere, and after day one, it didn’t disappoint.

And if protesters outside wearing Stop AI T-shirts and a judge chastising the billionaires for pre-trial social media jousting wasn’t enough, Musk’s warning of a Terminator scenario for the world under AI really set the scene.

Musk is playing up his role as AI’s – and indeed humanity’s – safety guard against a technology that he declared in court “could kill us all”. The billionaire tech titan was the first to testify in the case as his lawyers opened proceedings.

The courtroom drama promises to be one in which hyperbole is dialled up to maximum.

But wait a minute, isn’t Musk’s track record on AI safety open to dispute? Earlier this year, the city of Baltimore became the first in a........

© The Sydney Morning Herald