The ongoing legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI has taken a bizarre turn. In a recent court filing, Musk’s legal team claimed that he “does not use a computer.” This surprising statement was made in response to OpenAI’s demands for documents as part of the discovery process in the lawsuit Musk filed earlier this year against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Microsoft. Musk alleges that OpenAI deviated from its original nonprofit goals and has become too closely tied to Microsoft’s commercial interests.
However, the claim that Musk doesn’t use a computer has raised eyebrows. Several of Musk’s own posts on X (formerly Twitter) contradict it. For example, in December 2024, Musk posted a photo of a laptop covered with a Dogecoin sticker, saying he was testing Starlink’s streaming capabilities while playing a video game on a flight. He even described it as his laptop, mentioning that the sticker was gifted to him by a fan in Germany.
In June 2025, he again referenced the same laptop in another post, calling it his “ancient PC laptop” and showing continued attachment to the device. It appears to be a Gigabyte Aero, a high-performance machine often used by gamers and content creators.
Going further back to February 2024, Musk posted his frustration with Microsoft’s setup requirements when he bought a new PC. He complained that users were being forced to sign in with a Microsoft account, essentially granting AI access to the system. He even tagged Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a follow-up post demanding a rollback of the policy.
All these posts suggest Musk not only uses computers but also has strong opinions about their hardware and software. So why would his legal team claim otherwise? The statement may have been intended to limit what documents Musk’s side would be required to produce in the lawsuit. By stating that Musk doesn’t use a computer, his lawyers could argue that there are no computer files or data relevant to the case.
Whether this claim was made strategically or in earnest remains unclear. But it adds yet another unusual twist to the lawsuit, which is already marked by deep philosophical disputes, corporate rivalries, and massive stakes in the future of artificial intelligence.
