Satya Nadella took the stand Monday in Elon Musk's high-stakes trial against OpenAI, facing intense questioning about Microsoft's influence over the AI startup. The Microsoft CEO became a central figure in the case that has riveted Silicon Valley, with Musk's legal team probing how much control the tech giant truly wielded over the company he co-founded.

Musk's lawyers pressed Nadella on a comment he once made describing Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI as being "below them, above them, around them." Nadella testified it was simply a technical description of how Microsoft technology supported OpenAI. But the legal team argued it revealed OpenAI was beholden to the tech giant. The testimony also exposed Microsoft held veto power over prospective board members—when Sam Altman asked about adding Diane Greene, Nadella responded "No" and Kevin Scott added "Strong strong no."

Nadella defended against accusations that Microsoft perverted OpenAI's founding mission to create safe AI, noting Musk never raised concerns despite having his phone number. Ilya Sutskever also testified about the 2023 boardroom crisis when he helped push Altman out, saying he feared Altman's firing would destroy the company. "I worked really hard to create this company," Sutskever said. "I cared very much about it."