Brockman Rebuts Musk's Take On Startup's History, Recounts Secret Work For Tesla

Source: Slashdot

Testimony Overview

OpenAI President Greg Brockman concluded his testimony on Tuesday, largely rebutting Elon Musk’s account of the early years of the startup and the negotiations that took place there. Brockman testified that he never made any commitments to Musk about the company’s corporate structure, nor did he hear anyone else make such commitments. He emphasized that OpenAI remains governed by a nonprofit entity:

“This entity remains a nonprofit. It is the best‑resourced nonprofit in the world.”

Brockman, who testified from the witness stand in federal court in Oakland, California over two days, also revealed that Musk had enlisted several OpenAI employees to perform months of free work for him at Tesla. That work primarily involved overhauling Tesla’s approach to developing self‑driving technology as part of the Autopilot team in 2017.

During his testimony, Brockman answered questions about his personal financial ambitions, his understanding of OpenAI’s structure, and Musk’s involvement in the company they co‑founded with other executives in 2015.

Brockman’s Rebuttal to Musk’s Account

In Musk’s testimony last week, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO claimed that the time, money, and resources he poured into OpenAI were integral to the company’s success and that he helped recruit top talent. Brockman responded that while Musk was helpful in convincing some employees to join OpenAI, he was a polarizing figure for others:

• “Elon had a reputation of being an extremely hard driver.”
• “Certain candidates were very attracted by Musk’s involvement at OpenAI, and certain candidates were very turned off.”

Musk testified that former OpenAI researcher Andrej Karpathy joined Tesla after he had already planned to leave the startup. Brockman said Musk approached him with “an apology and a confession” about the hire, and that neither Musk nor Karpathy had informed Brockman that Karpathy intended to leave OpenAI beforehand.

According to Brockman, Musk was generally not very available for meetings and conversations, so he relied on employees—including Sam Teller and former OpenAI board member Shivon Zilis—as proxies. Brockman also testified that open‑sourcing OpenAI’s technology was “not a topic of conversation” during Musk’s time with the nonprofit, despite Musk’s claims that it was supposed to be central to the organization.

Details on Musk’s Involvement and Claims

Brockman described tense 2017 negotiations over a possible for‑profit arm. He said Musk became angry when equity stakes were discussed, recounting that Musk “declined the proposal during an in‑person meeting, then tore a painting of a Tesla Model 3 car off the wall and began storming out of the room.” Musk also demanded to know when the co‑founders would leave the company.

Brockman further stated that Musk wanted control of OpenAI because he disliked situations where he lacked control, citing his earlier ventures Zip2 and SolarCity as examples. He added that Musk partly sought control to help fund his broader SpaceX ambition of building a “city on Mars.”

Trial Schedule and Upcoming Testimony

• Wednesday (8:30 a.m. PT) – Trial resumes; Shivon Zilis expected to testify.
• Recap of recent days in the trial:
  • OpenAI President discloses his stake in the company is worth $30 billion (Day 5)
  • Musk concludes testimony at OpenAI trial (Day 4)
  • Elon Musk says OpenAI betrayed him, clashes with company’s attorney (Day 3)
  • Musk testifies OpenAI was created as nonprofit to counter Google (Day 2)
  • Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman head to court (Day 1)

Sources

• Reported by CNBC
• Read more of this story at Slashdot