OAKLAND, CALIF. — Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella defended OpenAI’s pivot to for-profit status and discussed his company’s hopes for a juicy return on its investment during Monday testimony in Elon Musk’s suit against the AI giant.

“Without a for-profit entity, it would be hard for OpenAI to pursue its mission,” Nadella said in federal court in Oakland, Calif.

Musk’s attorney Steven Molo hit him with sharp questions throughout his testimony, which came in the third week of the trial over Musk’s allegations that OpenAI betrayed its founding contract by putting commercial gain over developing AI for the benefit of humankind.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrives at federal court on Monday.…