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Tue, 05 May 2026

Tue, 05 May 2026 'I thought he was going to hit me' OpenAI co-founder says of Musk

OpenAI president Greg Brockman spoke during the second week of a month-long trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman.
Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and co-founder, testified that a 2017 meeting with Elon Musk was heated when he rejected Musk's proposal for more control over the company. Brockman said Musk's mood changed abruptly and he thought Musk might hit him. The meeting ended with Musk announcing he would withhold funding from OpenAI. Brockman described how Musk attempted to gain more control over OpenAI, including "buttering up" Brockman and another co-founder, Ilya Sutskever. He also testified that Musk was aware of plans to shift OpenAI to a for-profit business. The testimony comes during a trial between Musk and OpenAI's key founder and CEO Sam Altman. Brockman is a defendant in Musk's lawsuit attempting to undo OpenAI's transition to a for-profit business. Brockman also testified about his relationship with Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who is the mother of four of Musk's children. He said Zilis informed him she had twins but he only found out later that Musk was the father. When asked about her involvement with OpenAI after Musk left the company, Brockman said they trusted her to keep the conflict under control. Zilis left the board in March 2023 as Musk launched xAI, an AI company competing directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT.