Days before the trial commenced, Elon Musk attempted to settle his lawsuit alleging that OpenAI, under Sam Altman's direction, abandoned its foundational mission to operate as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity's benefit.
According to a Sunday court filing by OpenAI, Musk messaged OpenAI President Greg Brockman two days prior to the trial to "gauge interest" in a potential settlement. Brockman promptly responded, suggesting that "both sides" drop their respective claims. However, Musk refused and reportedly became sufficiently threatening that the court may permit Brockman to testify about the message as evidence, purportedly revealing Musk's true motives for pursuing the litigation.
In response to Brockman's suggestion to drop all claims, Musk stated: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be."
OpenAI evidently did not accept the settlement terms, as the trial began last week with Musk testifying as the first witness. On the stand, Musk reportedly stumbled several times, potentially weakening his case by making concessions, displaying a hot temper, retracting claims about AI risks rapidly becoming existential, and admitting a lack of knowledge regarding AI safety at his own company, xAI.
If admitted, Musk's alleged threat could become his next significant setback, as Brockman—whom Musk also seeks to remove from OpenAI—will be permitted to testify about the message when he takes the stand, likely today or tomorrow.
While communications during proposed settlements are typically inadmissible, in a likely frustrating turn for Musk, OpenAI cited an exception made during Musk's unsuccessful lawsuit attempting to withdraw from his Twitter acquisition.
In that 2022 case, Musk's legal team invited a "renegotiation" of the Twitter purchase price "so that the lawsuit could be dropped," simultaneously threatening that it "would be World War III until the end of time for real" for Twitter leaders and "their heirs" if Musk were compelled to acquire Twitter at a price he set based on a '420 joke'. During that exchange, Musk also allegedly sought to unnerve Twitter executives by reminding them that if he "ends up owning this thing, he'll have access to all of the company's records and he could look at everyone's emails and dig into whatever he wanted to dig into."