Musk wanted to settle with OpenAI just days before their courtroom showdown, new filing says
Elon Musk arrives at the federal courthouse in the trial over Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI in Oakland
By Hadas Gold, CNN
(CNN) — Elon Musk sought a potential settlement with OpenAI two days before his massive trial against the ChatGPT maker began last week, a new court filing from OpenAI says.
Musk sent a message to OpenAI President Greg Brockman “to gauge interest in settlement” on April 25, according to a filing submitted Sunday evening by OpenAI. The trial, which could shake up the AI race by removing CEO Sam Altman and Brockman from OpenAI’s board if Musk gets his way, kicked off in a federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif. last week.
“When Mr. Brockman responded with a suggestion that both sides drop their respective claims, Mr. Musk shot back: ‘By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be,’” the filing states.
Musk sued OpenAI and its leaders claiming they breached a charitable trust and unjustly enriched themselves by transitioning from a nonprofit to its current structure. The AI company is now a for-profit benefit corporation overseen by a nonprofit foundation.
Musk, who helped co-found and fund OpenAI, claimed the company and its executives deceived him into donating money to help create what is now one of the world’s biggest AI companies, accusing them of “stealing a charity” in his testimony.
OpenAI claims Musk had pushed for a for-profit structure and is only pursuing legal action to bring down a competitor after he wasn’t able to retain control over the company. Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 and founded his own AI company, called xAI, in 2023.
OpenAI’s attorneys tried to submit Musk’s messages as evidence.
“It tends to prove motive and bias, and, in particular, that Mr. Musk’s motivation in pursuing this lawsuit is to attack a competitor and its principals,” the attorneys wrote in the filing.
But Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied the request, telling OpenAI’s attorneys they should have submitted it as evidence during Musk’s testimony.
Musk’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Altman worried that Musk would drop the case right before the trial, leaving him and OpenAI without a chance to tell their side of the story, he said on the Core Memory podcast last month.
OpenAI attorneys, who at times clashed with Musk in the courtroom last week, presented evidence they said showed Musk wanted a for-profit corporation, including evidence that he directed his associates to register a corporation in OpenAI’s name. Musk’s attorneys presented messages from 2022 in which Musk told Altman that OpenAI’s $20 billion valuation following Microsoft’s $10 billion investment felt like a “bait and switch.”
“I agree it feels bad,” Altman replied, before noting Musk declined the equity OpenAI offered him.
Brockman, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other high-profile figures in the tech industry are also expected to testify over the next couple of weeks.
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