According to court documents filed Sunday night, two days before Musk’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against OpenAI was scheduled to begin, Musk sent a text message to OpenAI President Greg Brockman to test his intention to settle. The document reads: "After Brockman responded suggesting that both parties drop the lawsuit, Musk immediately responded: 'By the end of this week, you and Sam will become two of the most despised people in the United States. If you insist on that, then we will see.'"
Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and sued the company, Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2024. He accused the three of breaking their promises, no longer adhering to the AI company's non-profit nature, and abandoning its public welfare mission.
The trial of this case officially opened at the federal court in Oakland, California, at the end of last month. Brockman will be summoned to testify in court as soon as this Monday. OpenAI's lawyers applied to include Musk's text message as court evidence and said they planned to mention it in court when Brockman appeared in court for cross-examination.
OpenAI’s lawyer stated in the document: “The text message can prove Musk’s motivation and subjective bias for the lawsuit. In particular, it can prove that his real purpose of filing the lawsuit is to suppress competitors and their core management.”
Musk testified in court last week, and his testimony ran throughout the first week of the trial. During the three-day trial, he was questioned about his experience in founding OpenAI, and repeatedly accused Altman and Brockman of trying to "appropriate a public welfare institution."
He also accepted questions about xAI, a competing AI company he founded. Musk withdrew from the OpenAI board of directors in 2018 and founded xAI five years later. In February this year, Musk merged xAI with his SpaceX, and the transaction valued xAI at US$250 billion.
After Musk withdrew from the board of directors, OpenAI began to commercialize and established a for-profit subsidiary in 2018. After the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, its commercial business has experienced explosive growth, and the current valuation of OpenAI in the private equity market has exceeded US$850 billion.
Musk claimed in the lawsuit that the approximately US$38 million he donated to OpenAI in his early years was misappropriated for commercial purposes without permission. He stated many times in court that OpenAI’s profit-making arm has now put the cart before the horse and taken over the subject.
OpenAI refuted Musk’s accusations as baseless.
The case is being heard by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. The trial will resume at 11:30 a.m. ET on Monday.