Heated Meeting Between OpenAI Co-Founder and Elon Musk
OpenAI president Greg Brockman has recounted a tense encounter with Elon Musk concerning the billionaire's early efforts to assert control over the artificial intelligence (AI) company.
Brockman, who co-founded OpenAI and is a defendant in Musk's lawsuit seeking to reverse the company's shift to a for-profit model, testified in an Oakland federal court that Musk's demeanor changed abruptly when Brockman declined a proposal granting Musk greater influence within the company.
"I actually thought he was going to hit me," Brockman said, referring to Musk.
The meeting concluded soon after, with Musk declaring he would begin withholding financial support from OpenAI, which he had been funding since its inception in 2015.
Context of the Legal Dispute
Brockman's testimony is part of the second week of a month-long trial involving Musk and OpenAI's key founder and chief executive, Sam Altman.
The trial stems from a longstanding dispute that has intensified since Musk's departure from OpenAI. Musk was among the original co-founders and has observed the company evolve into one of the most valuable technology enterprises globally following the launch of ChatGPT.
Musk's Attempts to Gain Control
Prior to Musk's exit from OpenAI, Brockman described Musk's efforts to increase his control over the organization. These efforts included attempts to ingratiate himself with Brockman and another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever.
During the trial, OpenAI's legal team presented text messages from August 2017 exchanged between Sutskever and Brockman. One message read:
"Will a model 3 make you be willing to accept massively unfavourable terms?"
Transition to For-Profit Structure
Brockman's testimony emphasized that Musk was aware of OpenAI's plans to transition toward a more traditional for-profit business model. Initially, OpenAI was established as a non-profit entity. Subsequently, it created a for-profit arm to secure billions of dollars in investor funding. Last year, the company decided to focus primarily on the for-profit segment.
Upcoming Testimony and Personal Details
Brockman's court appearance is expected to be followed by testimony from former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis, who is the mother of four of Musk's children.
Brockman testified that Zilis informed him she had given birth to twins but that he only later learned from public reports that Elon Musk was the father.
"She said that it was via IVF and that it was entirely platonic with Elon," Brockman said regarding his conversation with Zilis after discovering Musk fathered her twins.
When questioned about Zilis' continued involvement with OpenAI years after Musk's departure, Brockman stated:
"We trusted her to keep the Elon conflict under control."
Zilis resigned from the board in March 2023, coinciding with Musk's launch of xAI, an AI company developing a chatbot that directly competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
