A new TechCrunch report details OpenAI president Greg Brockman’s account of Elon Musk’s volatile departure from the company, shedding rare light on the cutthroat negotiations that reshaped the AI lab’s future. According to Brockman, the rift began in early 2018 when Musk demanded that OpenAI merge into Tesla, a move he argued was necessary to compete with Google’s DeepMind.
Brockman and fellow co-founder Ilya Sutskever rejected the proposal, prompting Musk to push for a new for-profit entity under his sole control. When that plan was also refused, tensions boiled over in a board meeting. “Elon said, ‘You guys are idiots,’” Brockman recalled, and then left without saying another word.
Musk resigned from the board shortly after and warned he would stop funding the non-profit. He subsequently withdrew a promised financial commitment, leaving OpenAI to scramble for resources. The revelations, shared amid a wider legal dispute between Musk and the company, illustrate how a founder clash nearly derailed what would become one of the most influential AI organizations in the world.
We don't rate truth. We strip the spin and show you which perspectives covered the story. You decide.
Read the original coverage
💬 Comments
📜 Comment Policy