The legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI has intensified as the trial enters its second week in Oakland, California. New court filings reveal that Musk reached out to OpenAI President Greg Brockman two days before the trial began, attempting to settle the dispute. When Brockman suggested both parties drop their claims, Musk allegedly responded, “By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be.”
Musk’s lawsuit claims he was misled into donating approximately $38 million to OpenAI under the belief it would remain a nonprofit. He argues that the company’s 2019 transition to a for-profit model, and its subsequent ties with Microsoft, violated its founding mission of advancing AI for public benefit. Musk is seeking the removal of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from their roles, damages of up to $180 billion (with some reports citing $150 billion), and a reversal of OpenAI’s corporate conversion.
During his nearly three days of testimony, Musk admitted that his own AI company, xAI, had “partly” distilled models from other AI firms, potentially including OpenAI. He ranked xAI fifth among top AI companies, placing Anthropic first, OpenAI second, Google third, and Chinese open-source models fourth. Musk also revealed that in 2017, he instructed his associate Jared Birchall to file incorporation papers for a for-profit version of OpenAI, though he claimed it was done “just in case” and was never used.
Brockman’s private journal entries are now under scrutiny. A 2017 entry reportedly states, “We’ve been thinking that maybe we should just flip to a for profit. Making the money for us sounds great and all.” Brockman claims this referred to building a revenue plan to support OpenAI’s mission, not personal enrichment.
Key witnesses expected later in the trial include Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, and co-founder Ilya Sutskever. The trial, presided over by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, is expected to last several weeks, with a potential verdict by mid-May. The outcome could set significant precedents for AI governance and the balance between profit motives and ethical development.
