OAKLAND, Calif. — OpenAI’s president Greg Brockman got grilled by Elon Musk’s lawyer on Monday over embarrassing diary entries from nearly a decade ago in which he fantasized about becoming a billionaire — even as the then-nonprofit charity got millions in donations from Musk.
“Financially what will take me to $1B?” Brockman wrote in the digital journal in 2017, referring to the idea of converting OpenAI to a for-profit entity.
“We’ve been thinking that maybe we should just flip to a for profit,” Brockman allegedly wrote. “Making the money for us sounds great and all.”
But Brockman — who, along with CEO Sam Altman, is being targeted by Musk for removal from OpenAI in a federal lawsuit in California that claims they violated the company’s charitable mission — also wrote down his reservations about the wildly lucrative game plan, court documents show.
“Can’t see us turning this into a for-profit without a very nasty fight,” Brockman wrote in his diary. “It’d be wrong to steal the non-profit from him. That’d be pretty morally bankrupt.”
Brockman added, referring to Musk: “He’s really not an idiot. His story will correctly be that we weren’t honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for-profit just without him.”
Brockman said in his testimony that his stake in OpenAI is now worth nearly $30 billion.
Musk’s attorney Steven Molo grilled Brockman over the explosive journal entries — which first surfaced in court papers in January — questioning how they squared with Brockman’s repeated claims that all business decisions focused on OpenAI’s mission of benefiting humanity.
At one point, Molo raised his voice – “My question is very simple – you were worried about what will take me to $1 billion?”
Brockman, at times visibly tense and uncomfortable, repeatedly insisted that his push to shift OpenAI to a for-profit entity was always meant to serve the mission and that any personal financial motivations were secondary.
“We all agreed we’d create a for-profit,” Brockman replied. “There was a fork in the road – we either accept Elon’s terms or compete against him.”
The pair clashed during numerous exchanges, with Molo repeatedly shooting back, “That’s not my question.” The testy exchanges at one point led US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to step in calling Molo’s questioning “argumentative.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman watched intently inside the courtroom and the pair shared a brief and serious glance as Brockman left the courtroom during one break from proceedings.
The fireworks came the morning after a new court filing revealed that Musk pressured OpenAI leaders to cut a deal on the eve of the high-profile court battle – warning cofounder Greg Brockman that he and Sam Altman were about to become the “the most hated men in America.”
Musk, who alleges that OpenAI violated its non-profit mission in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit, texted Brockman two days before the trial began to “gauge interest in settlement,” OpenAI’s attorneys stated in the filing.
“When Mr. Brockman responded with a suggestion that both sides drop their respective claims, Mr. Musk shot back: ‘By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be,’” the filing says.
Musk claims that OpenAI and Altman manipulated him into giving $38 million to a nonprofit before it turned into a for-profit entity.
Musk is seeking $180 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, pledging to donate any proceeds from a court victory to OpenAI’s charitable arm. He is also asking the court to restore OpenAI’s nonprofit status and remove Altman and Brockman from leadership roles.
Musk in court yesterday said that he was a “fool” to trust Sam Altman with the future of OpenAI – “I was a fool who provided them free funding to create a startup,” Musk said. “I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding to create what would become an $800 billion company.”
The trial features a who’s who list of AI luminaries, including Altman, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, former OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, as well as Shivon Zilis, former OpenAI board member and mother to four of Musk’s’ children.
Before Brockman, Musk’s legal team called AI safety researcher Stuart Russell to the witness stand, despite skepticism from Judge Rogers. She told Molo: “I don’t know why he’s here. I’m telling you – if it goes longer than a half hour I’m cutting you off.”
Russell detailed threats such as “AI psychosis” where AI systems reinforce users’ delusions, and a “winner takes all” scenario where “governments would become subordinate to these companies.”
OpenAI’s legal team in cross examination got answers from Russell that Musk’s legal team paid him $235,000 for his testimony, which lasted little over an hour.
