OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has claimed that co-founder Elon Musk wanted full control of the AI company, adding that he discussed the possibility of passing over the control to his children. Altman made these revelations on May 12 when he took the stand in the ongoing trial of a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI. In the lawsuit, Musk alleges that OpenAI moved away from its non-profit goals and that the company founders 'stole a charity'.
Altman's Response to Musk's Allegations
When asked by Musk's lawyer about his thoughts on the allegations, Altman replied: "It feels difficult to even wrap my head around that framing." After several seconds of silence, he continued: "We created one of the largest charities in the world. This foundation is doing incredible work and will do much more."
Elon Musk Proposed to Pass OpenAI to His Kids: Sam Altman
During the trial, Altman revealed a hypothetical discussion when Musk asked what would happen to the ChatGPT-maker if he died. In Altman's telling, Elon Musk said, "Maybe OpenAI should pass to my children." Altman said that the Tesla CEO's focus on gaining full control of OpenAI gave him pause. With his experience running the startup accelerator Y Combinator, Altman knew "founders who had control usually did not give it up."
Elon Musk Did Huge Damage to OpenAI: Sam Altman
During the testimony, Altman said that Musk's management tactics did not work at OpenAI, adding they "did huge damage for a long time to the culture of the organization." "I don't think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab," Altman said, adding: "He had demotivated some of our most key researchers. He had at one point required Greg and Ilya to make a list of the researchers and list out their accomplishments and stack rank them and take a chainsaw through a bunch. That did huge damage for a long time to the culture of the organization."
Altman's testimony provides a rare inside look at the tensions between the two tech billionaires and the early days of OpenAI, which was founded as a non-profit but later shifted to a capped-profit model. The lawsuit continues to unfold, with both sides presenting their arguments in court.
