Only men who have never been told no—at least not in a way that lasted—can engage in a specific type of fight. One of those battles is the Oakland OpenAI trial. Additionally, you begin to notice things you weren’t supposed to see when you watch it, even from a distance.
The manner in which billionaires negotiate. The way friendships turn into exhibits in court. Ten years later, a casual text message from 2017 about whether a Tesla Model 3 might soften someone’s stance is read aloud in federal court.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Case | Musk v. OpenAI, Altman, Brockman & Microsoft |
| Court | U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland) |
| Presiding Judge | Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers |
| Jury | Nine jurors sworn in |
| Plaintiff | Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX |
| Lead Defendant | Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder of OpenAI |
| Co-Defendant | Greg Brockman, OpenAI president and co-founder |
| Corporate Co-Defendant | Microsoft, accused of aiding monetisation |
| OpenAI Founded | 2015, originally as a non-profit |
| Core Claim | Musk says he was swindled and that OpenAI’s non-profit mission was abandoned |
| Damages Sought | Billions in alleged “wrongful gains” |
| Trial Duration | Approximately one month |
| Key Witness | Shivon Zilis, former board member and mother of four of Musk’s children |
The courthouse itself lacks glitz. The federal building in Oakland is a grey, practical establishment with terrible coffee and annoying parking. However, on the inside, two of the most influential men in technology are effectively being made to explain themselves—something they hardly ever do in public. Due to OpenAI’s shift from non-profit idealism to for-profit ambition, Musk is suing Altman. According to Altman’s team, Musk is driven by jealousy, which is a simpler and more ancient motivation than principle.
When you read the testimony, you are struck by how unromantic the negotiations were. The president of OpenAI, Greg Brockman, recounted a 2017 meeting in which Musk requested greater control over the business. Musk’s attitude changed so drastically when Brockman refused that, according to Brockman’s testimony, he truly believed he was going to be hit. The result was that Musk would no longer provide funding for the business. The tension in this brief scene, which is almost domestic in nature, reveals something that press releases never do. There is a perception that powerful men negotiate in the same manner as everyone else, albeit with less tact and greater leverage.
The texts come next. In August 2017, Sutskever and Brockman exchanged the question, “Will a Model 3 make you be willing to accept massively unfavourable terms?” in reference to Musk’s purported attempts to win them over with Teslas. Mostly, it’s a joke. However, it’s also a record. A reminder that persuasion still appears transactional even at this height. Board seats, cars, equity, and flattery. The playbook is older than Silicon Valley, but the currencies are different.
It’s difficult to ignore how much of this experiment has nothing to do with artificial intelligence. The foreground is occupied by something much more familiar—male ego, lost trust, and money that grew faster than anyone anticipated—while the technology lurks in the background, vast and uncertain. When Altman first presented OpenAI to Musk, he was 14 years younger. In the past, he referred to Musk as his hero. They will now be seated in the same room, and nine common people will form a jury to determine which version of events to accept.
It has an almost unavoidable theatrical quality. For twenty years, Tech has created myths about its founders: the philosopher-king, the outsider, and the visionary. You can feel those myths shattering in real time as you watch this happen. When it’s all over, both men will appear smaller. In fact, that may be the most truthful outcome of this trial.
The outcome of the case is still unknown, as is the extent to which it will influence the larger race for AGI. However, the smaller disclosure has already been made. When no one is looking, powerful men negotiate with the same mix of charm, threat, and pettiness as everyone else. All they do is leave a longer trail of paper.
