Just days before the trial was set to begin, Elon Musk attempted to settle his lawsuit, which alleges that under the direction of Sam Altman, OpenAI abandoned its mission to serve as a nonprofit AI to benefit humanity.
According to a Sunday court presentation From OpenAI, Musk sent a message to OpenAI president Greg Brockman two days before the trial to “gauge interest” in a possible agreement. Brockman quickly responded, suggesting that “both sides” drop their claims. But Musk refused and then appeared to become threatening enough that the court allowed Brockman to testify about the message as evidence that supposedly reveals Musk’s true motives for pursuing litigation.
“At the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America,” Musk responded to Brockman’s suggestion that all claims be withdrawn. “If you insist, so it will be.”
OpenAI clearly did not accept the terms of the agreement, as the trial began last week with Musk as the first witness. On the stand, Musk stumbled several timesperhaps weakening his case by making concessions, becoming irascible, backtracking on claims that the risks of AI can quickly become existential, and admitting his ignorance when it comes to AI safety at his own company, xAI.
If admitted, his alleged threat could become his next big stumble, as Brockman, who Musk also wants out of OpenAI, will be allowed to testify about the message when he takes the stand, likely today and tomorrow.
Communications during proposed deals are generally not admissible, but will likely prove very frustrating for Musk, OpenAI pointed out an exception made during Musk’s failed lawsuit trying to withdraw from his Twitter purchase.
In that 2022 case, Musk’s legal team invited a “renegotiation” of Twitter’s purchase price “so that the lawsuit could be dropped,” while threatening that “it would be World War III until the end of time truly” for Twitter’s leaders and “their heirs” if Musk were forced to buy Twitter at such a low price. price that Musk set based on a 420 joke. During that exchange, Musk also allegedly tried to make Twitter executives uncomfortable by reminding them that if he “ends up owning this, he’ll have access to all of the company’s records and he’ll be able to look at everyone’s emails and dig into whatever he wants.”
