OpenAI President Greg Brockman testified on Tuesday local time that Elon Musk had supported transforming the artificial intelligence startup into a for-profit enterprise but wanted to take full control, in part because he wanted to raise $80 billion for a Mars colonization plan. Brockman's testimony comes in the second week of a trial in California that could determine OpenAI's future. After OpenAI launched the chatbot ChatGPT at the end of 2022, it triggered widespread enthusiasm in the field of generative artificial intelligence.

Brockman told the court that OpenAI plans to invest $50 billion in computing resources in 2026.

Musk accuses OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of defrauding him into donating $38 million to the nonprofit, only to watch it abandon its charitable goals and become a for-profit company that enriches his own pockets.

The world’s richest man is seeking $150 billion in damages to be paid to the nonprofit and the removal of Altman and Brockman. Musk left the OpenAI board of directors in February 2018.

In his second day of testimony, Brockman said that in 2017 Musk had wanted OpenAI to change its corporate structure because the nonprofit had struggled to raise the funds OpenAI needed to build advanced artificial intelligence models.

Brockman said Musk has made it clear he wants to be the leader of OpenAI if that happens.

Brockman said Ultraman was the only other candidate.

Brockman described a particularly tense meeting in which Musk said he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI because of his business experience. According to Brockman, Musk also said he plans to use the shares to build a self-sufficient city on Mars.

“He said he needs $80 billion to build a city on Mars,” Brockman said. “Ultimately, he needs complete control.” Musk said it would be up to him to decide when to give up complete control, Brockman added.

Brockman said the meeting, which took place in August 2017, got off to a good start. Musk had just gifted some Tesla cars to OpenAI employees to thank them for their efforts, and Ilya Suzkovo, the former chief scientist of OpenAI, also drew a portrait of Tesla and gave it to Musk to express his gratitude.

But when it came to OpenAI’s potential ownership structure that he didn’t like, Musk flew into a rage and said “I say no,” according to Brockman.

Brockman said Musk stood up and walked over quickly, fearing Musk would hit him, but Musk picked up Sutskwo's painting and stormed out, saying he would withhold the new funds until the matter was resolved.

Musk’s lawyers have tried to paint Brockman as also seeing a financial stake in OpenAI.

On Monday, Brockman testified that his stake in OpenAI is worth nearly $30 billion. He also said he holds shares in two startups backed by Altman, as well as a 1% stake in the Altman Family Fund.

Evidence in the case also includes a 2017 diary entry from Brockman, in which he wrote: "From a financial perspective, what will get me to the $1 billion goal?"

In March 2019, OpenAI reorganized into a for-profit organization managed by a nonprofit organization, allowing it to accept funds from outside investors.

The company has since raised more than $100 billion to hire researchers, buy computing power and expand in preparation for a possible $1 trillion initial public offering (IPO) this year.

OpenAI said Musk was disgruntled because he left the board before the company was successful and now wants to take control of the company. OpenAI also said Musk filed the lawsuit to bolster the position of his own AI company, xAI, which merged with SpaceX in February.

SpaceX may also go public this year, and its IPO size may exceed OpenAI.

According to a registration statement, SpaceX’s board of directors approved in January this year that it would grant Musk 200 million shares of super voting restricted stock if the company’s market value reaches $7.5 trillion and it establishes a permanent colony on Mars with a population of at least 1 million.