finance
Elon Musk Testifies in Lawsuit Against OpenAI Cofounders Over Company Restructuring
A trial is underway in Oakland, California, where Elon Musk is suing OpenAI cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman over allegations of violating a charitable trust and unjust enrichment. Testimony included Musk's admission that his company xAI trained its model using OpenAI's GPT models and Brockman's acknowledgments about his financial pledges and investments.
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A jury in Oakland, California, is hearing testimony in a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The case centers on whether communications between the parties established a charitable trust during OpenAI's formation and if the subsequent restructuring violated that trust.
The restructuring shifted control from the non-profit board to include a for-profit entity. Musk alleges that Altman and Brockman unjustly enriched themselves as OpenAI transitioned from a research lab to a commercial operation. The jury's verdict will be advisory to the judge.
OpenAI has countersued Musk, alleging harassment.
During the trial, Musk testified that his company xAI trained its Grok model by distilling OpenAI's GPT models, a process that involves training on outputs from another model. This action violates OpenAI's terms of service. Musk stated that such practices are common.
Greg Brockman testified that he did not fulfill an initial pledge to donate $100,000 to OpenAI's non-profit but now holds a $30 billion stake in the for-profit company. Musk's lawyers presented Brockman's 2017 journal entries, in which he wrote about converting the non-profit to a B corp without Musk and noted that they were not honest with Musk about pursuing for-profit activities without him.
Brockman also acknowledged investing in AI chip startup Cerebras while OpenAI discussed a potential acquisition, without disclosing this to Musk. Altman was also an investor in Cerebras. The acquisition did not proceed, but OpenAI later formed a partnership with Cerebras.
Before the trial, Musk emailed Brockman proposing a settlement. In the email, Musk stated that by the end of the week, Brockman and Altman would be the most hated men in America if they did not settle. OpenAI's lawyers made the email public and attempted to admit it as evidence, but the effort was unsuccessful.
