Courtroom Moments: Brockman on OpenAI’s Shift

Greg Brockman has been testifying this week in a high-profile trial about OpenAI’s early choices and later business shift. He said that in 2017 Elon Musk pushed to change OpenAI’s nonprofit structure because it was too hard for a charity to raise the funds needed for big AI work, and that Musk sought majority control of the group at that time. Although the discussion was framed around money, Brockman described tense moments with Musk while leaders negotiated the future of the lab since those talks affected who would lead decisions.

In court Brockman disclosed that his stake in OpenAI is now worth nearly $30 billion and that OpenAI plans to spend about $50 billion on computing in 2026. Musk invested roughly $38 million early on, and he later contacted Brockman to discuss a possible settlement before the trial, documents show. Therefore, jurors are weighing both the founders’ records and the legal promises made in 2017. However, some details are contested and emails and journal notes are being examined by the court to decide what happened. Furthermore, the case will look at term sheets and whether leaders understood them.