Musk in Court: Flat, Unprepared, and Oddly Self-Absorbed

I’ve watched Elon Musk testify before. During his defamation trial, he turned on the charm, played to the jury, and walked away with a not-guilty verdict. That guy didn’t show up today.

Musk was the first witness sworn in for Musk v. Altman, and he looked adrift. Flat. Like he hadn’t bothered to rehearse the story he needed to tell. The only moments he came alive were when he was listing his own accomplishments at OpenAI, almost as if he forgot the lawsuit is supposed to be about Sam Altman straying from the mission.

Direct examination is a narrative tool. You ask questions to build a clear, compelling story. Musk spent a weird amount of time talking about himself, reciting his own contributions, and generally missing the plot. If the goal was to convince anyone that Altman abandoned OpenAI’s founding principles, Musk did a terrible job of making that case.

I expected more. He’s been in court before. He knows how to work a room. But today he came off as petty and unprepared, and that’s not a good look when you’re trying to prove someone else is the bad guy.