OpenAI president Greg Brockman is pushing back after Elon Musk cited excerpts from his private journal in court filings, showing that OpenAI’s senior leadership discussed a potential shift toward a for-profit structure as early as 2017.
In February 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, alleging that the firm violated its founding mission as a nonprofit research lab dedicated to developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
In a new court filing, Musk points to Brockman’s late-2017 journal entries as evidence that OpenAI’s leadership privately contemplated a for-profit pivot while publicly presenting the organization as a mission-first nonprofit.
“It would be nice to be making the billions… maybe we should just flip to a for-profit… What do I really want? Financially, what will take me to $1B?”
Brockman says the cited diary entry does not reflect the full extent of what’s happening inside OpenAI, saying that Musk himself had already agreed that moving toward a for-profit structure was the next logical step for the company.
“I have great respect for Elon, but the way he cherry-picked from my personal journal is beyond dishonest.
Elon and we had agreed a for-profit was the next step for OpenAI’s mission.
The context shows these snippets were actually about whether to accept Elon’s draconian terms.”
Brockman shares deposition testimony to shed light on why he wrote “Financially, what will take me to 1 billion?” in his diary.
“I think if we were going to do a for-profit entity, that I started to think about what would be motivating financial reward in that case as a secondary consideration… Primary consideration was would we be able to pursue and achieve the mission.”
Brockman also says that Musk wanted total control of the firm and claims that Musk himself “was committed enough” to the for-profit idea that he created a for-profit OpenAI entity.
“Elon told us that he needed majority equity, and he needed to control everything.
Ilya and I tried so hard to make things work…”
The executive adds that OpenAI chose to stay silent over the past years, even as what he describes as “false narratives” circulated publicly.
“Out of respect for Elon and to avoid discrediting him, the whole time we were working together, and even after he quit, we tried to avoid correcting his false narratives in public. Looking forward to finally having an opportunity to talk about the real history of OpenAI.”
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at CapitalAI Daily are not investment advice. Investors should do their own due diligence before making any decisions involving securities, cryptocurrencies, or digital assets. Your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. CapitalAI Daily does not recommend the buying or selling of any assets, nor is CapitalAI Daily an investment advisor. See our Editorial Standards and Terms of Use.