Vicki Ellen Behringer knows how to draw complicated characters.
A veteran sketch artist, Behringer has created some of the more vivid watercolors to emerge from high-profile trials—Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Holmes, and the Unabomber. So about three weeks into the case between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, I had to know what she thought of her latest sitters.
She struggled with Musk, she told me after court adjourned one day last week. His face lacked the kind of distinctive features that helped to evoke one’s likeness in a sketch. It was the third trial she’d drawn him in and she still couldn’t nail it.
Altman was easier. She homed in on his Tintin-like flick of hair, which I once caught him adjusting in the bathroom mirror during a break in the trial. He’s also got these expressive eyebrows, Behringer told me. They were furrowed throughout his testimony. He looked like he’s always anxious, she said.
Some minor relief in Altman’s mien should be in sight. As anyone who deals with anxiety knows, one of its chief triggers is uncertainty. With closing arguments now completed in the trial and the jury set to start deliberations on Monday, the uncertainty in this case will soon be resolved. Team Altman played its hand pretty well going into the jury room—a finding of liability on either of Musk’s two charges of breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment would frankly be a surprise.
For the longer term, though, Altman’s brows should remain in their furrowed state. The trial has been a brutal public examination of his character and leadership style, with nearly a half dozen witnesses explaining in detail why they thought he was unfit to lead OpenAI.
Altman’s lawyers made a strong legal case that Musk’s lawsuit was too vague, too messy, and too late for a federal judge to essentially unwind a corporate structure. But, to my mind, they never sufficiently explained why OpenAI still needs a nonprofit structure at all.
Musk’s attorneys have wanted the trial to be as much about Altman’s character as possible. During Steven Molo’s cross-examination earlier in the week, the lawyer peppered the cofounder with scathing questions about how others view him
Molo: “You’ve been repeatedly called deceptive and a liar with people you’ve done business with?”
Altman: “I have heard people say that.”
In his closing arguments, Molo returned to that well. “Sam Altman’s credibility is directly at issue in this case,” he told the jury. “The defendants absolutely need you to believe Sam Altman. If you cannot trust him, if you don’t believe him, they cannot win. It’s that simple.”
