In the high-stakes courtroom drama in Oakland, OpenAI’s co-founder and president Greg Brockman recalled his meeting with Elon Musk from 2017, where the Tesla CEO nearly turned physical. Brockman explained that as disagreements grew over who would control the artificial intelligence company, Musk changed suddenly. This testimony is a part of the legal dispute between Musk and OpenAI, as the xAI chief claims OpenAI has shifted from a non-profit model to a for-profit structure.

Here’s What Brockman Said

As per Bloomberg,

Brockman

testified in a federal court where he said Musk’s behaviour changed dramatically after his proposal was turned down. Brockman told the jury, “I actually thought he was going to hit me,” recalling the intensity of the moment. The OpenAI co-founder stated that the situation escalated quickly after he rejected Musk’s proposal to gain greater control over OpenAI.

Musk warned that he could stop funding the company, added Brockman. The Tesla CEO had been one of the early backers of OpenAI since its founding in 2015. Moreover, Brockman mentioned there were serious concerns within the founding team about Musk’s approach to manage AI. He suggested that Musk did not have enough patience and lacked a long-term vision for AI.

Brockman added, “Look, he knows rockets; he knows electric cars. He did not and I believe does not know AI.” He reportedly mentioned that OpenAI’s other co-founder Ilya Sutskever knew Musk would not spend time to understand the technology.

During the hearing, Brockman also highlighted that Musk had dismissed an early version of what later turned out to be ChatGPT. He noted Musk called the system ‘stupid’ and told researchers that “kids on the internet could do a better job with it”.

These comments from Musk increased doubts among the team about his ability to lead the company’s AI efforts, added the OpenAI president.

Attempts To Gain Influence

Musk also stated that he gave free Teslas to

Sustskever, Brockman and others at the AI company as a personal gift and “a reward to the individuals for their hard work”.

Brockman revealed that Tesla was gifted in the middle of the deals related to the equity division for the OpenAI for-profit endeavour, so he sensed it as Musk ‘buttering up people’.

The case could lead to wider implications for the future of OpenAI and its AI products. Notably, it raises serious questions about how companies that are developing advanced AI should balance public good and profit.

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