Sacramento, United States. OpenAI President Greg Brockman testified in a California trial that Elon Musk supported transforming OpenAI into a for-profit company but sought full control, partly to help him raise $80 billion to colonize Mars. The case could shape OpenAI’s future after it sparked widespread interest in generative AI with its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022.
Testimony details and OpenAI spending plans
Brockman’s testimony came in the second week of the trial. He told the court that OpenAI plans to spend $50 billion on computing resources in 2026.
Musk’s allegations and demands
Musk has accused OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman of misleading him into contributing $38 million to the nonprofit, and then abandoning its charitable goals to become a for-profit company to enrich themselves. Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages to be paid to the nonprofit and is asking for Altman and Brockman to be removed from their leadership roles. Musk left OpenAI’s board in February 2018.
Brockman says Musk sought leadership and a majority stake
In his second day of testimony, Brockman said that in 2017 Musk wanted OpenAI to change its corporate structure because it was too difficult for a nonprofit to raise the amount of money needed to build advanced AI models. Brockman said Musk made clear he wanted to become OpenAI’s leader if that happened, and that Altman was the only other candidate. Brockman also described an intense meeting in which Musk said he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI due to his business experience, and that Musk said he intended to use that stake to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.
What do you think the trial’s outcome could mean for OpenAI’s leadership and corporate structure?
