In the prolonged legal battle between OpenAI and Elon Musk, the personal private diary of OpenAI's president, Greg Brockman, has unexpectedly become the center of court arguments. Recently, Brockman was forced to read out summaries of his diaries in court. Musk's legal team tried to use these writings to prove that the senior management of OpenAI had long abandoned its original "non-profit" mission and instead pursued substantial personal wealth.
Brockman appeared very distressed in court, emphasizing that these diaries were merely his personal "stream-of-consciousness" records, including observations of others and repeated considerations of various decisions, not definitive guides for action. However, words like "switching to a for-profit model sounds great" and "how to make $1 billion financially" in the diary undoubtedly became the strongest points of attack for the prosecution.
The Gap Between $1 Billion and $30 Billion
One focus of the trial was Brockman's gains during the company's transformation. Musk's lawyers pointed out that Brockman had written in his diary about a career wealth goal of "1 billion dollars," while his shares in OpenAI are now valued at around 30 billion dollars. In response to the question of whether he would be willing to return 29 billion dollars to the non-profit department, Brockman clearly refused, arguing that these shares were obtained before the explosive growth of ChatGPT, and that he had made great efforts to establish this globally best-funded non-profit organization.
The Struggle for Control: Who Is the 'Dictator'?
Aside from the financial game, the diary also revealed fears of Musk's control in the early days of OpenAI. Brockman recorded that Musk had given an ultimatum: either let him gain absolute control over the for-profit department, or the company maintain its non-profit status. Brockman feared that Musk might become the so-called "dictator of general artificial intelligence (AGI)" and endanger the company's mission. This sense of insecurity ultimately led him to support Sam Altman, and after Musk left the board in 2018, he led the company's structural transformation.
Safety and the Disillusionment of Ideals
In his testimony, Brockman questioned Musk's professionalism, claiming that although Musk is an expert in rockets and electric vehicles, his understanding of AI is limited, and his harsh criticism even nearly caused core engineers to change careers. A more damaging accusation was that Brockman claimed Musk had implied, in his farewell speech, that Tesla might sacrifice safety standards in the development of AGI to improve efficiency in order to catch up with Google.
The trial is still ongoing. Brockman is trying to portray himself as an idealist who had to make difficult choices to protect the original intent of the technology, while Musk's side is determined to prove it is a well-planned "charity heist." Whether the words in the diary represent calculated greed or self-defense in turmoil remains to be answered by the jury.
