A California courtroom on Monday saw some stunning details come out, as OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman spoke about his financial ties to CEO Sam Altman and the size of his stake in the company, Reuters reported.
The details were shared in court during questioning by a lawyer for Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and is now suing the company. He argues that it wrongly shifted from a non-profit to a for-profit structure, moved away from its original charitable mission, and should be converted back into a non-profit.
A stake worth nearly $30 billion
According to Reuters, while answering questions, Brockman said his stake in OpenAI is worth nearly $30 billion. That number had not been known earlier. Brockman also revealed that back in 2017, Altman gave him a stake in his personal family office. At that time, it was worth about $10 million.
Musk’s lawyers argued that this kind of financial link could affect how independent Brockman really is, especially when it comes to backing Altman’s decisions. An email shown in court, written by Jared Birchall, alleged, “One thing worth mentioning now is that he compensated Greg on the side by giving him a percentage ownership of Sam’s personal family office,” Reuters reported.
The same email added that this could mean, “Greg is going to have a greater allegiance to Sam as a result of this arrangement.” According to Reuters, Musk forwarded that note to Brockman with two question marks.
Asked straight up if he was loyal to Altman, Brockman said, “I don’t know, I would say it quite like that.”
During his court appearance, Brockman said he owns shares in Cerebras, a company OpenAI has discussed buying chips from and plans to spend heavily on. Reuters reported Brockman confirming his stake in Helion Energy, where Altman has already put in hundreds of millions. Altman stepped down from Helion’s board earlier this year as the two companies looked at working together.
What Musk is actually arguing
Musk’s case goes beyond these financial details. He claims OpenAI walked away from what it originally promised, a nonprofit focused on safe AI, and turned into a profit-driven company instead. The trial, now in its second week in California, could decide what comes next for OpenAI.
The company has grown rapidly since launching its chatbot in 2022, becoming a major player in artificial intelligence. It has raised more than $100 billion from investors to hire talent, buy computing power, and expand ahead of a possible massive public listing.
OpenAI hits back at Musk
OpenAI is strongly pushing back against Musk’s claims. The company alleged that Musk is not acting out of concern for its mission, but because he wants control. It also argues that he is unhappy with OpenAI’s success after leaving its board in 2018.
OpenAI has also claimed that Musk did not focus on safety issues when he was involved with the company. At the same time, it claims he is trying to promote his own AI venture, xAI, which is still behind OpenAI in terms of users.
With billions of dollars involved and some of the biggest names in tech facing off, the outcome could have a big impact on the future of the company, and possibly the wider AI space too.