source: techcrunch ai: musk mulled handing openai to his children, altman testifies
level: business
openai ceo sam altman testified in a lawsuit brought by elon musk, who claims the company abandoned its nonprofit mission. altman rejected the idea that founders stole a charity, saying they built one of the world's largest foundations. he described a 2017 debate where musk's control demands and safety plans worried him. at one point, musk said if he died while controlling a hypothetical for-profit, openai might pass to his children. altman saw this as a risk because openai aimed to prevent any single person from controlling advanced ai.
altman said musk's management style hurt openai's research culture. musk required cofounders greg brockman and ilya sutskever to rank researchers and cut staff, which altman said caused long-term damage. altman portrayed himself as protecting the sweat equity of brockman and sutskever, who ran daily operations. musk later left the board and started competing ai projects at tesla and xai. despite the split, altman kept musk updated on openai's work and sought his funding and advice.
openai's lawyers noted musk was informed about and invited to join investments he now challenges. altman recalled a 2018 meeting about a microsoft investment as a good vibes session where musk showed memes on his phone. the case centers on whether openai's safety commitment weakened as it grew commercially. altman's testimony aimed to show musk's early behavior raised more safety concerns than the company's later structure.
why it matters: the testimony reveals early power struggles over ai control, highlighting governance risks that still shape debates on safe ai development.
source: techcrunch ai: musk mulled handing openai to his children, altman testifies