OpenAI president and cofounder Greg Brockman testified Tuesday about moments of tension when OpenAI board members denied Elon Musk’s attempt to obtain a 62.5% majority control in OpenAI in 2017, saying of the world’s wealthiest person: “I thought he was going to hit me. I truly thought he was going to physically attack me.”
Elon Musk arrives at the U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
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Brockman took the stand for his second day of testimony, being questioned by OpenAI counsel Tuesday following a first day of questioning from Musk’s lawyer.
Brockman testified Musk denied the board’s proposal to grant him less than 50% of the equity in the planned for-profit, wanted four of seven board seats and, by the end of negotiations, insisted on being CEO.
Asked whether Musk ever tied his demand for control to OpenAI's mission, Brockman replied that he didn’t, testifying that Musk instead said "people needed to know he was in charge” and he "needed $80 billion dollars to create a city" on Mars.
After Brockman and cofounder Ilya Sutskever counter-proposed equal founder shares in the August 2017 meeting, Brockman testified that Musk went silent for several minutes, declined the offer and stormed out—saying Musk looked so angry in the moment that Brockman believed Musk might physically attack him.
Brockman testified Musk stopped his promised quarterly donations to OpenAI following the meeting (Musk donated approximately $38 million to OpenAI from December 2015 through May 2017).
Brockman also recounted his concerns with Musk’s competence and knowledge of AI, describing a 2016 demo during which Musk dismissed an early version of ChatGPT built by Alec Radford—who later created GPT-1 and GPT-2—saying the system was so "stupid" that "kids on the internet could do a better job of it," leaving Radford "absolutely crushed, demoralized" and nearly leading him to quit AI research entirely.
In a September 2017 email read into the record, Sutskever and Brockman wrote "the goal of OpenAI is to make the future good and to avoid an AGI dictatorship”–to which Musk replied, "Guys, I've had enough. This is the final straw. Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a non-profit. I will no longer fund OpenAI until you have made a firm commitment to stay or I'm just being a fool who is essentially providing free funding for you to create a startup.” Brockman testified he, Altman and Sutskever considered but decided against removing Musk from the OpenAI board in late 2017, and Musk announced to the company in 2018 that he would be leaving OpenAI to pursue artificial evidence at Tesla.
$10 billion. That was the total amount of capital Brockman testified the team believed OpenAI would need to raise to pursue its mission in 2017, and that Musk’s response to no longer fund OpenAI after the falling out made him feel “devastated.” OpenAI has raised nearly $186 billion to date.
The trial, which began the week of April 27 in an Oakland, California, courtroom stems from Musk's 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI, Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in which Musk alleges he was deceived into co-founding and funding what he was told would remain a nonprofit. Musk’s testimony, which was not publicly broadcast, wrapped up last Friday. During Brockman's first day on the stand Monday, Musk’s attorney Steven Molo hammered Brockman on his roughly $30 billion equity stake in OpenAI, despite not donating $100,000—an amount he told several people that he would. Brockman’s personal journal entries also became evidence for Musk’s case that Brockman and Altman were always angling for personal enrichment, with one entry from August 2017 reading, “This is the only chance we have to get out from under Elon… We truly have a chance to make this financially happen, take me to $1,000,000,000.”
Two days before the trial began, Musk texted Brockman directly to gauge interest in a settlement, according to a court filing by OpenAI's lawyers. When Brockman suggested both sides drop their claims, Musk reportedly replied: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be." Judge Gonzalez Rogers declined to admit the texts into evidence, ruling OpenAI's lawyers should have introduced them during Musk's own testimony the prior week.
Brockman's testimony is expected to continue with a cross-examination by Musk's legal team, which has signaled it will return to the journal entries. The trial is scheduled to run through late May.
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