During Elon Musk's testimony on Tuesday in his lawsuit against OpenAI, one of the most intriguing moments wasn't about the charity he claims was taken from him—everyone expected that. Instead, it centered on an old friendship. Musk testified that a key reason he co-founded OpenAI was a falling out with Google's Larry Page over AI safety. He described a conversation where he raised concerns about AI potentially wiping out humanity, and Page reportedly dismissed it as "fine," as long as AI itself survived. Page called Musk a "speciest" for being "pro human," while Musk labeled the attitude "insane."

This is particularly striking given how close the two once were. Fortune listed them among the secretly best-friend business leaders in 2016; Musk was so comfortable with Page that he often crashed at his Palo Alto home. Page once told Charlie Rose he would 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 has shared this story before—including with author Walter Isaacson for his bestselling biography—but Tuesday marked the first time he said it under oath. Page hasn't commented, and it's worth noting that everything Musk said was in support of his lawsuit. Still, as recently as 2023, Musk told tech podcaster Lex Fridman he wanted to reconcile: "We were friends for a very long time."