Musk Sent Text Message to OpenAI Executive Brockman Two Days Before Court, Testing Reconciliation Intentions
According to court documents submitted Sunday evening, two days before the scheduled start of the multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by Musk against OpenAI, Musk sent a text message to OpenAI President Greg Brockman, probing his willingness to settle. The document states: “After Brockman replied proposing that both sides withdraw their lawsuits, Musk immediately retorted: ‘By the end of this weekend, you and Sam will become the two most despised people in America. If you insist on doing so, just wait and see.’”
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and sued the company, Brockman, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2024. He accused the three of breaking promises to no longer adhere to the non-profit nature of the AI company and abandoning its public service mission.
The trial in this case officially began at the end of last month at the Federal Court in Oakland, California, and Brockman is expected to be summoned to testify as early as Monday this week. OpenAI’s lawyers applied to have Musk’s text message admitted as evidence in court and stated they plan to mention it during Brockman’s testimony.
OpenAI’s lawyers stated in the documents: “The text message can corroborate Musk’s litigation motives and subjective biases, especially proving that his true purpose in filing the lawsuit is to suppress competitors and their core management.”
Musk testified in court last week, and his testimony spanned the entire first week of the trial. During three consecutive days of trial, he was questioned about his experience founding OpenAI and repeatedly accused Altman and Brockman of attempting to “usurp a public service organization.”
He also answered questions about his competing AI company, xAI, which he founded. Musk stepped down from OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018 and founded xAI five years later. In February of this year, Musk merged xAI with his SpaceX, valuing xAI at $250 billion in the transaction.
After Musk left the board of directors, OpenAI began to commercialize and established a for-profit subsidiary in 2018. Following the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, its commercial business experienced explosive growth, and its current private market valuation of OpenAI has exceeded $850 billion.
Musk argues in the lawsuit that approximately $38 million he donated to OpenAI in its early years was misappropriated for unauthorized commercial purposes. He repeatedly stated in court that OpenAI’s for-profit division has now become the tail wagging the dog.
OpenAI refutes Musk’s accusations as baseless.
The case is being heard by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, and the trial will resume at 11:30 AM Eastern Time on Monday this week.