Elon Musk walked away from OpenAI’s board in February 2018 after a months‑long showdown with co‑founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The rift started in late August 2017, when the small nonprofit’s leadership convened to discuss creating a for‑profit subsidiary that could raise the capital needed to pursue artificial general intelligence. Musk, who had been a major donor, pressed for "unequivocal" control of the new entity, even presenting each founder with a Tesla Model 3 as a gesture of goodwill.

During the meeting, Brockman recalled that Musk’s demand sparked an angry response. "He sat for several minutes thinking quietly," Brockman testified, describing the moment Musk announced his refusal to back a shared governance model. The founder’s frustration boiled over, and he briefly stormed out of the room, clutching a painting of a Tesla that had been commissioned as a friendly gift. The episode set the tone for a prolonged power struggle.

When the board rejected Musk’s demand for absolute authority, the billionaire halted his regular donations to OpenAI’s operating budget. Within six months, he formally resigned from the board, though he continued to fund the shared office space the nonprofit used with his other venture, Neuralink, until 2020. Musk later claimed the organization was on a "path of certain failure" and said he would focus his AI efforts on Tesla instead.

Journal entries reveal internal turmoil

In the courtroom, Brockman presented pages from a personal journal he kept during the 2017 negotiations. The entries expose his doubts about Musk’s leadership and his own ambitions. One note read, "Is he the ‘glorious leader’ that I would pick?" while another reflected on personal wealth, asking, "Financially what will take me to $1B?" Prosecutors seized on those lines, arguing that Brockman's motivations were self‑serving rather than mission‑driven.

Despite the tension, OpenAI ultimately moved forward with a for‑profit arm. In 2019, the company secured a $1 billion investment from Microsoft, followed by an additional $13 billion over the next four years, cementing its status as a leading AI research lab. The influx of capital dramatically increased the net worth of executives and employees, a development that Musk’s lawyers contend was built on the back of his early contributions.

Legal battle resurfaces

The dispute resurfaced in 2024 when Musk filed a lawsuit alleging that Altman and Brockman "stole a charity" by converting the nonprofit into a for‑profit structure without his consent. The trial, now in its second week, features heated exchanges, including a text message Musk allegedly sent to Brockman two days before the proceedings began: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will."

OpenAI’s legal team argues that Musk voluntarily left the board after recognizing that his vision for the organization conflicted with that of the other founders. Brockman testified that Musk never truly understood the technical challenges of AI, noting, "He did not and does not know AI." The court will decide whether Musk’s departure was a forced ouster or a voluntary exit, and whether the nonprofit’s transformation violated any fiduciary duties.

As the trial continues, the tech community watches closely. The outcome could set a precedent for how nonprofit AI labs transition to for‑profit models and how founders’ control is balanced against broader stakeholder interests.

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