Elon Musk at OpenAI trial, confronting Larry Page during heated debate over controversial "speciest" remark, expressing frust

Editorial illustration for Musk, at OpenAI trial, clashes with Page over 'speciest' remark and calls attitude insane

Musk, at OpenAI trial, clashes with Page over 'speciest'...

Musk, at OpenAI trial, clashes with Page over 'speciest' remark and calls attitude insane

By AI Daily Post Edited by Brian Petersen, Editor-in-Chief

May 4, 2026 • Updated: May 6, 2026 • 2 min read

The courtroom drama over OpenAI’s latest legal battle has turned into something of a personal showdown. While the case itself hinges on technical patents and data‑use agreements, the headlines are now fixated on a heated exchange between Elon Musk and former OpenAI co‑founder Sam Page. The two men have a history that reads like a business‑friendship case study: Fortune listed them in 2016 as “secretly best‑friend business leaders,” and Musk was known to spend nights at Page’s Palo Alto home.

That camaraderie makes today’s clash feel oddly intimate. During a break in the proceedings, Page took issue with Musk’s self‑identification as “pro human,” labeling the stance a form of species‑bias. Musk, in turn, dismissed the criticism as “insane.” The tension underscores how a once‑close alliance can fray when ideological lines are drawn, and it sets the stage for the stark words that follow.

Musk testified that one of his core motivations for co-founding OpenAI was a falling-out with Google’s Larry Page over AI safety — specifically, a conversation in which Musk raised the prospect of AI wiping out humanity and Page shrugged it off as “fine,” so long as AI itself survived. Page called Musk a “speciest” for being “pro human.” Musk called the attitude “insane.” That’s mostly notable given how close the two once were. Fortune included them on its 2016 list of secretly best-friend business leaders; Musk was so comfortable with Page that he regularly crashed at his Palo Alto home.

Page once told Charlie Rose that he’d rather give his money to Musk than to charity. The friendship didn’t survive OpenAI. When Musk recruited Google AI star Ilya Sutskever to help launch the company in 2015, Page felt personally betrayed and cut off contact.
— Musk, at OpenAI trial, clashes with Page over 'speciest' remark and calls attitude insane — techcrunch.com

Why this matters

Did Musk really revive old grievances during his testimony? The courtroom drama highlighted a personal rift that predates the OpenAI lawsuit. Musk said his drive to co‑found OpenAI stemmed from a disagreement with Google co‑founder Larry Page over AI safety, recalling a conversation where he warned of existential risk and Page dismissed it as acceptable as long as AI survived.

Page, in turn, labeled Musk a “speciest” for his “pro‑human” stance, a term Musk described as “insane.” Their former camaraderie is well documented; Fortune once listed them among secretly best‑friend business leaders, and Musk even stayed at Page’s Palo Alto home. Yet the testimony offers no new evidence about the alleged charity theft, focusing instead on personal history. Whether this old friendship will influence the trial’s outcome remains unclear.

The exchange underscores how personal narratives can intersect with legal strategies, but it does not resolve the substantive claims at the heart of the case.