‘Techno King’ Elon Musk Would not Personal a Pc, His Legal professionals Inform Courtroom

He fancies himself the innovator of our time. “Disrupt” could possibly be his center title. Know-how, it appears, is in his DNA. And but, Elon Musk apparently—supposedly—has a secret Luddite streak: he doesn’t use a pc.

The revelation didn’t come from a biography or a tell-all interview. It got here from a authorized submitting within the high-stakes, mud-slinging lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI, the place the way forward for synthetic intelligence is on trial in a Northern California courtroom. Amid thorny questions of company betrayal and billion-dollar secrets and techniques, this unusual element stole the present.

Sure, you heard that appropriately. It’s not a joke from a late-night present. That’s not me saying it. It’s coming from Musk’s personal legal professionals.

In a authorized letter filed on June 22, Musk’s authorized group pushed again towards accusations from OpenAI that they had been failing to show over related paperwork. When OpenAI claimed Musk’s group was refusing to gather sure supplies, his legal professionals known as the accusation “incorrect” and, within the course of, dropped the bombshell.

“Mr. Musk doesn’t use a pc,” his legal professionals at Toberoff & Associates wrote on the primary web page of the three-page doc.

There’s only one downside with that declare: public proof, together with from Musk himself, suggests in any other case. Whereas workers at X advised WIRED Musk primarily works from his cellphone, additionally they observe he has been seen utilizing a laptop computer every now and then.

Extra pointedly, Musk has referenced proudly owning a pc in his personal social media posts. In a December 2024 submit on X, he shared a picture with the textual content, “This can be a pic of my laptop computer,” explaining that he was utilizing it to check Starlink’s streaming capabilities in-flight. Extra lately, in Could 2025, when requested about his gaming setup, Musk replied on X that he’s “nonetheless utilizing my historic PC laptop computer with the @DOGE sticker made way back by a fan.”

This can be a pic of my laptop computer. It’s about 3 years previous. A man in Germany gave me this cool sticker, so I don’t wish to improve it and lose the sticker. pic.twitter.com/wJZbhpkus8

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 31, 2024

This contradiction emerges from the messy “discovery” part of his lawsuit towards OpenAI, the place he accuses CEO Sam Altman of betraying their founding mission. As either side combat over inner paperwork, the battle has intensified. This context makes the “no laptop” declare appear much less like a private quirk and extra like a possible authorized tactic to restrict the scope of discoverable paperwork. In spite of everything, if there are not any computer systems, there are not any laptop recordsdata handy over.

The Musk v. Altman case is a proxy struggle over the governance and possession of AI. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, now portrays himself as its most outstanding critic, arguing the corporate offered its soul to Microsoft. OpenAI, in flip, depicts Musk as a bitter ex-partner making an attempt to intrude with an organization he selected to depart.

However for now, the authorized drama is being overshadowed by a weird declare that’s seemingly contradicted by Musk’s personal public statements: the person suing over the way forward for synthetic intelligence could also be making an attempt to steer a decide that he has personally deserted some of the basic instruments of the digital world.