OpenAI Co-Founder Takes the Stand as Musk Seeks to Undo $30B Stake
OpenAI Co-Founder Takes the Stand as Musk Seeks to Undo $30B Stake
As Musk presses to revert OpenAI to nonprofit status, Greg Brockman testifies about a $30B stake and the founders' pivot from philanthropy to a profits-first AI empire.
Elon Musk’s bid to force OpenAI back to a nonprofit footing is playing out in an Oakland courtroom as Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder, takes the stand. Musk’s lawyers argue the founders steered the philanthropic project into a for-profit venture valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, potentially upending the company’s future. OpenAI is now valued at more than $850 billion and is planning for an initial public offering.
Brockman acknowledged that he holds a stake in OpenAI, currently valued at about $30 billion, though he did not personally invest the funds. He referenced a 2015 email in which he pledged to donate $100,000 to help attract other Silicon Valley donors, noting that he did not end up making that donation. He contended that the AI revolution will be “the most important technological shift in human history” and argued that the company’s commercial pivot kept the nonprofit mission alive by creating “the most well-resourced nonprofit in history” with substantial equity value.
While Sam Altman is not expected to testify until the week of May 11, he watched from the defense table as Brockman spoke. Musk’s lawsuit alleges OpenAI’s founders manipulated supporters to turn philanthropy into a money-making machine; the trial could shape OpenAI’s path forward, including any moves toward a traditional IPO and how the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation fits into a future AI landscape.
