Elon Musk had a bad week in court

by David Pierce

May 1, 2026, 1:33 PM UTC

Elon Musk is the one who wanted this trial. He has spent months claiming OpenAI “stole a nonprofit,” and saying he was the actual driving force behind one of the most important companies currently in tech. All indications are that he won’t win his case against the company, but he’s fighting it anyway. So you’d think he’d have done better when it was his time to take the stand.

Instead, Musk spent much of the week arguing with lawyers (including his own!), changing his story, and seeming unlikely to sway a jury that may have required some serious swaying. On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David go over some of the week’s strangest and funniest moments, and try to figure out where this case is headed from here. Frankly, it’s anyone’s guess.

After that, the hosts chat gadgets. The Steam Controller appears to be a good controller and a great gadget, the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo has exactly the right number of screens for a laptop, and we have a lot of questions about the concept of a “wide foldable” and whether anyone will willingly don Samsung smart glasses.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are a few links to get you started: