OpenAI‘s president, Greg Brockman, told the court that Elon Musk had once backed the idea of turning the AI startup into a for-profit company — but only if he could have total control. Why? Partly, Brockman explained, because Musk wanted to raise $80 billion for his dream of building a colony on Mars.
The testimony came during the second week of a California trial that could shape the future of OpenAI — the company that kicked off the global generative AI craze after releasing ChatGPT in late 2022.
Brockman also revealed in court that OpenAI plans to spend around $50 billion on computing power in 2026 alone, highlighting just how expensive advanced AI development has become.
“He wanted full control”
On his second day on the stand, Brockman said that as far back as 2017, Musk was pushing to restructure OpenAI. According to Brockman, Musk believed a non-profit could never raise the kind of money needed for cutting-edge AI. And if the company did restructure, Musk made it clear he wanted to be in charge. The only other person considered for the top job, Brockman said, was Sam Altman.
Brockman also recalled a very tense meeting in the summer of 2017. Musk allegedly argued he deserved a majority stake in the company because of his business track record. His reason? He wanted to use his share of the company to fund a city on Mars.
“He said he needed $80 billion to build a city on Mars,” Brockman testified. “What it really came down to was him wanting full control.” He added that Musk said he would decide when to give up that control.
The meeting started out positive but quickly turned sour when a proposed equity structure was presented — one Musk didn’t like. According to Brockman, Musk snapped, said “I refuse,” and stormed out. But not before taking a whiteboard that had been doodled on by OpenAI’s then-chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, as a parting “gift.” Musk also warned he would freeze new funding until the dispute was resolved.
Musk’s lawyers tried to paint Brockman as someone with his own strong financial motives. On Monday, Brockman testified that his stake in OpenAI is now worth nearly $30 billion. He also admitted to owning shares in startups backed by Altman, plus a 1% stake in Altman’s family investment fund.
In a piece of evidence from 2017, Brockman had written in a personal calendar note: “Financially, what will get me to $1 billion?”
For context, OpenAI eventually restructured in 2019, creating a for-profit arm controlled by the original non-profit, so it could bring in outside investors.
Finally:
- Musk claims OpenAI and Sam Altman tricked him into donating $38 million to the original non-profit, only to later turn it into a for-profit business.
- Musk is now asking for $150 billion in damages and wants Altman and Brockman removed from their leadership roles.
- The trial is expected to wrap up by mid-May, and the judge will decide whether OpenAI must reverse its for-profit structure.
by JJ ABRAM