A long-forgotten friendship between Elon Musk and Larry Page comes back into focus during OpenAI trial testimony.
At his OpenAI trial, Elon Musk’s testimony shed light on an old and contentious friendship with Larry Page, co-founder of Google. According to Musk, the falling out between the two tech leaders was a key motivation for him co-founding OpenAI in 2015.
Musk claims that he and Page had a conversation about AI safety concerns, during which Page allegedly dismissed his warnings. This dismissal reportedly included Page saying that as long as AI itself survived, the prospect of human extinction was ‘fine’. Musk saw this attitude as ‘insane’, and it marked a turning poi…
The two tech leaders were once close friends, with Fortune even listing them among its 2016 list of secretly best-friend business leaders. Musk would regularly crash at Page’s Palo Alto home, and Page reportedly told Charlie Rose that he’d rather give his money to Musk than to charity. However, when Musk recruited G…
Page felt personally betrayed by Musk’s actions and cut off contact with him. The rift has been a long-standing one, with Musk even bringing it up during an interview with author Walter Isaacson for his bestselling biography of Musk. Now, as part of the OpenAI trial, Musk is revisiting this aspect of their relations…
What matters
- Musk claims he co-founded OpenAI due to a falling out with Page over AI safety concerns.
- Page allegedly dismissed Musk’s warnings, calling him a ‘speciest’ for prioritizing human life.
- The friendship between the two tech leaders began to unravel in 2015 when Musk recruited Google AI star Ilya Sutskever.
Why it matters
The friendship between the two tech leaders began to unravel in 2015 when Musk recruited Google AI star Ilya Sutskever.
This GenAI News article was prepared in original wording using reporting and materials published by TechCrunch AI. Source reference: https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/28/at-his-openai-trial-musk-relitigates-an-old-friendship/.
Drafted by the GenAI News review pipeline.