Jury selection in Musk v. Altman: Turns out people really don’t like Elon

The courtroom showdown between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over OpenAI’s alleged broken promises started Monday, and it got personal fast — before any arguments were even made.

Jury selection is usually a mundane procedural step, but when one of the parties is Elon Musk, mundane goes out the window. The Verge’s Elizabeth Lopatto was in the room and shared some of the juror questionnaire responses. They are… not flattering.

One prospective juror wrote: “Elon Musk is a greedy, racist, homophobic piece of garbage.”

Another: “Elon Musk is a world-class jerk.”

And a third: “I very much dislike Tesla. As a woman of color, I am very aware of the damaging statements and actions Elon Musk has enacted and been a part of.”

Oof. That’s not exactly the kind of impartial pool you want when you’re the plaintiff.

Musk is suing Altman and OpenAI, claiming they violated the nonprofit’s original mission by prioritizing profits over humanity. But if these questionnaires are any indication, Musk’s own public persona may be his biggest obstacle in court. It’s hard to convince a jury you were wronged when a chunk of them already think you’re a “piece of garbage.”

I’ve been following this case since it was filed, and I’ve always thought Musk had a weak legal argument — the original OpenAI charter was vague, and “we changed our minds about making money” isn’t exactly fraud. But I didn’t expect the jury pool to be this openly hostile. That’s a whole different level of problem.

Musk’s legal team will try to weed out the most biased jurors during voir dire, but when the entire pool seems to have a negative impression, you’re left picking the least bad option. Good luck finding someone who hasn’t formed an opinion about the guy who bought Twitter, renamed it X, and fired half the staff while making memes about it.

Altman’s lawyers, meanwhile, are probably licking their chops. If the jury already dislikes Musk, they’re more likely to side with OpenAI’s narrative: that Musk is just a sore loser who wanted control of the company and didn’t get it.

This trial is going to be a circus, and it hasn’t even really started yet. I’ll be watching to see if Musk’s team can salvage jury selection, or if this thing is already dead on arrival.