Sam Altman testified Tuesday that 
Elon Musk tried repeatedly to seize control of OpenAI in its early years and at one point told co-founders the company might one day pass to his children. Appearing before a federal jury in Oakland on the third week of Musk's lawsuit against the company, Altman said the co-founders rejected those demands and decided no single person should govern artificial general intelligence, the BBC reported.
What did Altman say Musk asked for? Musk wanted up to 90 percent of OpenAI when it was restructured as a for-profit, Altman told the court in testimony reported by Al Jazeera, along with more seats on the board and the chief executive role. He also proposed that OpenAI become a subsidiary of Tesla, the BBC reported, and Altman recalled Musk saying that if Musk tweeted about the company, "it's instantly worth a ton."
What did Altman say about Musk's management style? Altman told the court that Musk required president Greg Brockman and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever to rank researchers and "take a chainsaw through a bunch," The Verge reported. The former Tesla executive's departure in 2018 was "a morale boost in some ways," Altman testified, because staff no longer felt obliged to work under that regime.
What is Musk seeking? Musk is suing Altman and Brockman over OpenAI's pivot to a for-profit structure in 2019 and is seeking $150bn in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, Al Jazeera reported. Altman pushed back from the stand, saying Musk had launched a competing venture, xAI, tried to poach OpenAI talent, and engaged in what he called "business interference," NPR reported.
Figures referenced: Elon Musk. — JudgeMarket.
