Two days before his multibillion-dollar lawsuit against OpenAI went to trial, Elon Musk texted the company's president, Greg Brockman, to feel out a settlement. When Brockman suggested both sides drop their claims, Musk replied with a warning: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America." OpenAI's lawyers disclosed the exchange in a court filing Sunday and are pushing to enter it as evidence when Brockman takes the stand Monday.
The filing, reported by CNBC, centers on an April 25 message from Musk to Brockman. After Brockman countered that both parties should walk away from their respective claims, Musk shot back: "If you insist, so it will be." OpenAI's legal team argues the text reveals Musk's true motivation. "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 lawyers wrote. The trial, Musk vs. OpenAI, kicked off with jury selection on April 27 in federal court in Oakland, California.
Musk took the stand last week and described the company's for-profit transformation as a bait-and-switch. "Essentially, they're trying to steal a charity, and we're trying to stop them," he testified. Musk sued OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and Brockman in 2024, alleging they deceived him into donating $38 million to what was supposed to remain a nonprofit dedicated to benefiting humanity.
OpenAI still operates a nonprofit arm, but it is overshadowed by a for-profit entity valued at over $800 billion. Brockman is expected to testify Monday and could face questions about private diary entries from 2018, before Musk left the company. One entry, according to the filing, reads: "His story will correctly be that we weren't honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for profit just without him."
