OpenAI Co-founder Recounts Intense Confrontation with Elon Musk

OpenAI president Greg Brockman recounted a fearsome 2017 meeting with Elon Musk. He told a jury he thought Musk would strike him. This happened after Brockman rejected Musk's plan for more company control. The confrontation occurred in Oakland federal court.

Brockman is a co-founder of OpenAI. He is a defendant in Musk's lawsuit. Musk wants to reverse OpenAI's move to a for-profit model. Brockman stated Musk’s mood changed sharply. He refused Musk's proposal for greater influence. The meeting ended soon after this refusal. Musk then declared he would stop funding OpenAI. He had supported the company since 2015.

This testimony is part of a trial. The trial involves Musk and OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman. It marks a bitter dispute between the two. Musk was an initial co-founder. He left OpenAI years ago. The company has since become very valuable. This was partly due to the success of ChatGPT.

Before leaving, Musk tried to gain more power. Brockman described these attempts. Musk even tried to flatter Brockman and another co-founder. Lawyers showed text messages from August 2017. These messages were between Ilya Sutskever and Brockman. One text asked if a Model 3 car would make him accept bad terms from Musk.

Brockman's core message is clear. Musk knew about plans for OpenAI's for-profit shift. The company began as a non-profit. Later, it added a for-profit arm. This aimed to attract billions of dollars. Last year, the company decided to focus more on its for-profit arm. This shift is central to the ongoing legal battle.

Brockman's court appearance followed others. Former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis is expected to testify. She is the mother of four of Musk's children. Brockman revealed Zilis told him about having twins. He only learned from public reports later that Musk was the father. Brockman spoke to Zilis after this news. She stated the twins were conceived via IVF. She also said the relationship with Musk was platonic. Zilis served on the board for years after Musk left. Brockman said, "We trusted her to keep the Elon conflict under control." Zilis left the board in March 2023. At that time, Musk was launching xAI. This is a rival AI company to OpenAI.