Musk's Attorney Questions Brockman on 2017 Journal Entries in OpenAI Trial

Elon Musk's attorney Steven Molo questioned OpenAI President Greg Brockman on Monday about journal entries from 2017 during testimony in Oakland federal court. S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to intervene and call the questioning argumentative.

Brockman insisted during testimony that shifting OpenAI to a for-profit was meant to serve the mission and personal financial motivations were secondary, stating that all agreed to create a for-profit and there was a fork in the road to either accept Elon Musk's terms or compete against him.

Greg Brockman wrote in his digital journal in 2017 about financially reaching $1 billion by converting OpenAI to a for-profit entity, according to court documents. He also wrote that OpenAI had been thinking about flipping to a for-profit entity and that making money for the team sounded great.

Additionally, Brockman noted that turning OpenAI into a for-profit would require a very nasty fight and that it would be wrong to steal the nonprofit from Elon Musk, describing such an action as morally bankrupt. In the same 2017 journal entries, Brockman wrote that Elon Musk is not an idiot and his story would be that OpenAI was not honest about wanting to do the for-profit without him, as revealed via court documents.

The journal entries first surfaced in court papers in January.

Brockman testified that his stake in OpenAI is now worth nearly $30 billion. Molo repeatedly responded to Brockman during testimony that the response was not his question. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman watched the testimony intently inside the Oakland federal courtroom, and Greg Brockman and Sam Altman shared a brief and serious glance as Brockman left the courtroom during a break.

Before the trial, Elon Musk texted Greg Brockman two days earlier to gauge interest in settlement, according to OpenAI's attorneys. In the text, Elon Musk stated that by the end of this week, he and Sam Altman would be the most hated men in America if they insisted on proceeding.

Greg Brockman responded to Elon Musk's text by suggesting both sides drop their respective claims, as detailed by OpenAI's attorneys.

Elon Musk alleges in a federal lawsuit in California that OpenAI and Sam Altman violated the company's charitable mission. Elon Musk claims OpenAI manipulated him into giving $38 million to the nonprofit before it turned for-profit. He is seeking $180 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft in the lawsuit and pledges to donate any proceeds from a court victory to OpenAI's charitable arm.

Musk is asking the court to restore OpenAI's nonprofit status and to remove Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from leadership roles at OpenAI. Elon Musk stated in court that he was a fool to trust Sam Altman with OpenAI's future and provided $38 million in free funding to create an $800 billion company. Musk's legal team called AI safety researcher Stuart Russell to testify in Oakland federal court.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers expressed skepticism about Stuart Russell's testimony and stated she would cut it off if longer than a half hour. Stuart Russell testified about threats including AI psychosis where AI systems reinforce users' delusions and about a winner takes all scenario where governments would become subordinate to AI companies.

OpenAI's legal team cross-examined Stuart Russell, who stated that Musk's legal team paid him $235,000 for his testimony. Russell's testimony lasted little over an hour. The trial includes witnesses such as Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, and Shivon Zilis.

Greg Brockman is OpenAI's president and co-founder. Sam Altman is OpenAI's CEO. The events occurred in Oakland federal court.