OpenAI's Greg Brockman Testifies About Confrontational Meeting with Elon Musk
Original: ‘I Actually Thought He Was Going to Hit Me,’ OpenAI’s Greg Brockman Says of Elon Musk
Why This Matters
Reveals internal tensions during OpenAI's early governance struggles and transformation
OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified in Musk v. Altman trial that Elon Musk stormed out of 2017 meeting at his mansion, threatening to cut funding unless Brockman and Sutskever quit after they rejected his control demands over OpenAI.
During testimony in the Musk v. Altman trial, OpenAI's Greg Brockman described a heated August 2017 meeting at Elon Musk's $23 million Hillsborough estate. Musk had gifted Tesla Model 3 cars to Brockman and co-founder Ilya Sutskever before the meeting. The group discussed establishing a for-profit arm to attract billions in investment, but Musk demanded control of the company. When Brockman and Sutskever proposed shared control instead, Musk rejected the offer and 'stormed around the table.' Brockman testified he thought Musk 'was going to hit me, physically attack me.' Musk grabbed a Tesla painting gift from Sutskever, threatened to cut nonprofit funding until they quit, and left. Musk's chief of staff later called to continue discussions. The case centers on Musk's claim that his $38 million in donations were misused as OpenAI became an $852 billion for-profit venture.