'I actually thought he was going to hit me' OpenAI President says of Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is suing OpenAI's Chief Executive Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman
OpenAI President Greg Brockman revealed that he thought Elon Musk was "going to hit him" when the billionaire's attempts to take over the tech company failed.
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Mr Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is suing OpenAI's Chief Executive Sam Altman and Mr Brockman, saying they betrayed him and the public by abandoning the mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for humanity.
Mr Brockman told the jury at Oakland federal court about a heated meeting in 2017 where he rejected Mr Musk's proposal to have a greater say in the company.
He said Mr Musk had recently given Teslas to some OpenAI employees in gratitude for their work, and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever painted a portrait of a Tesla to give to Mr Musk as a token of thanks.
But according to Mr Brockman, Mr Musk grew angry when discussing a potential equity structure for OpenAI that he didn't like, saying "I decline."
Read more: Man charged with attempted murder after Molotov cocktail thrown at home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
Mr Brockman said Mr Musk stood up and walked over so fast he was concerned Mr Musk would hit him, but instead Mr Musk picked up Mr Sutskever's painting and stormed out, saying he would withhold new funding until matters were sorted.
"I actually thought he was going to hit me," Mr Brockman said
Mr Musk alleges that he was conned by OpenAI chief Sam Altman into giving $38 million to the nonprofit, only to see it abandon its charitable goals and become a for-profit company to enrich themselves.
He is seeking $150 billion in damages to be paid to the nonprofit and for Mr Altman and Mr Brockman to be removed from their leadership roles.
OpenAI has said Mr Musk was embittered because he left its board before the company's successes, and now wants control. It also said Mr Musk sued to bolster his own AI company xAI, now part of SpaceX.
Under questioning from an OpenAI lawyer, Mr Brockman said that in 2017 Musk wanted OpenAI to change its corporate structure because it was too hard for a nonprofit to raise the amount of money OpenAI required to build advanced AI models.
Mr Brockman said the Tesla and SpaceX founder made clear that he wanted to become OpenAI's leader if that happened.
Mr Altman was the only other candidate.
Brockman described a particularly intense meeting in which Mr Musk said he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI because of his business experience. Mr Musk said he intended to use that stake to build a self-sustaining city on Mars, according to Mr Brockman.
"He said he needed $80 billion to create a city" on Mars, Mr Brockman said. "In the end, he needed full control." Mr Brockman added that Mr Musk said he would decide when to relinquish full control of the company.
Mr Musk, who co-founded OpenAI, is suing the company on the grounds that it improperly became a for-profit company, abandoned charitable goals and should turn back into a nonprofit.
The trial, in its second week in a California courtroom, could determine the future of OpenAI, which sparked a widespread craze over generative artificial intelligence after launching its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022.
OpenAI plans to spend $50 billion on computing resources in 2026, Brockman said in court.