Former OpenAI employees and people close to both companies<\/a> have been watching this particular lawsuit with a close eye, since the outcome of a jury trial could have affected how OpenAI runs its business and controls its quickly advancing technology. Plus, OpenAI and SpaceX are both reportedly racing to go public this year, so they\u2019re more in the public eye than ever.<\/p>\n The lawsuit discovery process had already unearthed<\/a> a lot of eyebrow-raising communications between AI industry executives, from emails between Altman and Sutskever to entries from Brockman\u2019s own diary. Even texts<\/a> between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Musk were made public. But that was all before the jury trial started \u2014 now, there\u2019s even more set to be revealed.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an exhaustive list of all the exhibits that have been made public so far and the biggest takeaways from each one. Admittedly, not every item is necessarily interesting, so we\u2019ve flagged the most important ones with an asterisk. The Verge will keep updating the list as more are added.<\/p>\n A June 2015 email exchange between Altman and Musk. Altman lays out a five-part plan involving an AI lab with a mission to \u201ccreate the first general AI and use it for individual empowerment\u2014ie, the distributed version of the future that seems the safest. More generally, safety should be a first-class requirement.\u201d<\/p>\n He suggests that they start with seven to 10 people and expand from there, using an extra Y Combinator building located in Mountain View. Governance-wise, Altman names five people to start, proposing himself, Musk, Bill Gates, Pierre Omidyar, and Dustin Moskovitz. \u201cThe technology would be owned by the foundation and used \u2018for the good of the world\u2019, and in cases where it\u2019s not obvious how that should be applied the 5 of us would decide,\u201d Altman writes. He adds that the researchers working at the lab would have \u201csignificant financial upside \u2026 uncorrelated to what they build, which should eliminate some of the conflict,\u201d and suggests paying them a \u201ccompetitive salary\u201d and awarding them equity in Y Combinator. He also says they should get someone to \u201crun the team\u201d but that that person \u201cprobably shouldn\u2019t be on the governance board.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman goes on to ask Musk whether he\u2019ll be involved in the AI lab in addition to governance, potentially coming by once a month to talk about progress or at least being publicly supportive to help with recruiting. As a model, he names Peter Thiel\u2019s \u201cpart-time partner\u201d involvement at Y Combinator.<\/p>\n Finally, Altman mentions a \u201cregulation letter,\u201d seeming to imply that the AI lab was going to write a letter calling for AI regulation. He says he\u2019s happy to leave Musk off as a public signatory.<\/p>\n Musk replies, \u201cAgree on all.\u201d<\/p>\n In an October 2015 email exchange between Altman and Musk, Altman suggests starting with a $100 million commitment by Musk and asks if he could donate an additional $30 million over the next five years.\u201d He says Bill Gates isn\u2019t yet committed to donating but that he hopes to \u201chave him locked down next week,\u201d adding that he believes Mark Zuckerberg likely won\u2019t come through due to his own AI lab, Facebook AI Research (FAIR). He also suggests that he and Musk start as the first two members of the Safety Board with the potential to add three other members over the following year, calling it the \u201c\u2018second key\u2019 for releasing anything that could be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk responds, \u201cLet\u2019s discuss governance. This is critical. I don\u2019t want to fund something that goes in what turns out to be the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n In a November 2015 email exchange between Musk and Altman, the two discuss plans for the forthcoming AI lab. Musk starts off by recounting a \u201cgreat call with Greg [Brockman]\u201d and saying he\u2019s \u201csuper impressed with everyone so far,\u201d calling it a \u201cgreat team.\u201d He suggests creating the lab as an \u201cindependent, pure play 501c3, but with a crystal clear focus on the positive advent of strong AI distributed widely to humanity.\u201d He says the company would \u201cstill aim to bring in revenue in excess of costs at some point, but positive net revenue would just flow to cash reserves.\u201d<\/p>\n With regards to compensation for employees, Musk suggests a cash salary and certain bonuses. He says that if Altman is amenable, employees could convert cash to stock in Y Combinator, adding that it\u2019s fine if they\u2019d rather convert some or all to SpaceX stock instead. (\u201cI can pretty much do what I want on the SpaceX side, as it is private (thank goodness),\u201d Musk writes.) He also offers \u201cinsane amounts of real world sensor data\u201d from Tesla for the AI lab to use, mentioning that the amount of data is \u201cseveral orders of magnitude greater than any other company.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk\u2019s first stab at a name for the AI lab is \u201cFreemind,\u201d as he says it \u201cconveys the sense that we are trying to create digital intelligence that will be freely available to all \u2014 the opposite of Deepmind\u2019s one-ring-to-rule-them-all approach.\u201d He also says he\u2019ll dedicate whatever amount of his time is useful, even though that could mean less time allocated to SpaceX and Tesla. \u201cIf I really believe that this is potentially the biggest near-term existential threat, then action should follow belief,\u201d he writes. He adds later that, despite seemingly trying to be essentially a silent partner, he has to \u201cbite the bullet on admitting real involvement. This will come as a shocker to many, but so be it. Can\u2019t be lukewarm about this.\u201d<\/p>\n Altman suggests the AI lab share a building with Y Combinator and use the incubator\u2019s legal team to help get it started. He also suggests the names \u201cAxon\u201d or something related to famed computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing.<\/p>\n Musk writes, \u201cSomething Turing-related that doesn\u2019t sound too ominous might be good. Want to avoid the Turing Test association though, as that sounds too much like we are replacing humans.\u201d<\/p>\n A December 2015 email exchange between Altman and Musk drafts the opening paragraphs of OpenAI\u2019s mission and press release. Musk says the \u201cwhole point of this release is to attract top talent.\u201d The two go back and forth on wording, and the final product<\/a> ends up not straying too much from Musk\u2019s original draft.<\/p>\n Musk writes in his draft that \u201cthe outcome of this venture is uncertain and the pay is low compared to what others will offer, but we believe the goal and the structure are right.\u201d Altman writes in his draft that \u201cbecause we don\u2019t have any financial obligations, we can focus on the maximal positive human impact and disseminating AI technology as broadly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI\u2019s official articles of incorporation, filed December 8, 2015. The document states that OpenAI \u201cshall be a nonprofit corporation organized exclusively for charitable purposes\u201d and that its purpose is \u201cto ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, including by conducting and\/or funding artificial intelligence research. The corporation may also research and\/or otherwise support efforts to safely develop and distribute such technology and its associated benefits, including analyzing the societal impacts of the technology and supporting related educational, economic, and safety policy research and initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n The document continues, \u201cThe resulting technology will benefit the public and the corporation will seek to distribute it for the public benefit when applicable. The corporation is not organized for the private gain of any person.\u201d<\/p>\n An April 2016 email exchange between Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Musk asks Huang if the OpenAI team can buy an early unit of a supercomputer, making sure to highlight that \u201cOpenAI is unaffiliated with Tesla. It is a non-profit funded by me and a few others with the goal of developing safe AGI (and hopefully not paving the road to hell with good intentions).\u201d<\/p>\n Huang responds that he \u201cwill make sure OpenAI gets one of the first ones.\u201d<\/p>\n A photo of Jensen Huang ostensibly dropping off said computer. Elon Musk stands nearby.<\/p>\n On the wall behind him is a lengthy quote sometimes attributed to U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, which is echoed in a 2013 blog post<\/a> by Altman. (The Verge couldn\u2019t immediately confirm the whole quote was said by Rickover; in a US Navy post<\/a> attributed to the admiral, only part of the quote appears: \u201cMan has a large capacity for effort. But it is so much greater than we think it is, that few ever reach this capacity.\u201d)<\/p>\n In an August 2017 email exchange between Musk and Shivon Zilis, Musk\u2019s chief of staff who eventually sat on OpenAI\u2019s board, and with whom Musk would eventually share multiple children. Zilis writes a recap of her meeting with Brockman and Sutskever, laying out seven unanswered questions. She says Brockman and Sutskever are fine with Musk spending less time on the company and having less control, or spending more time and having more control, but not less time and more control. They also hope to raise significantly more than $100 million to start, as they worry the data center they need alone would cost that much. She says Brockman is relatively set on an equal equity split. They also, she writes, worry about Musk\u2019s control over the company. In her notes recapping their concerns, Zilis writes, \u201cIs the requirement for absolute control? They wonder if there is a scenario where there could be some sort of creative overrule position if literally everyone else disagreed on direction.\u201d<\/p>\n The biggest point of tension, Zilis writes, seems to be on Musk\u2019s duration of control over the company, despite his ownership stake. \u201c*The* non-negotiable seems to be an ironclad agreement to not have any one person have absolute control of AGI if it\u2019s created. Satisfying this means a situation where, regardless of what happens to the three of them, [Greg, Ilya, and Sam] it\u2019s guaranteed that power over the company is distributed after the 2-3 year initial period \u2026 An ironclad 2-3yr minority control agreement, regardless of the fates of Greg \/ Sam \/ Ilya.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk responds, \u201cThis is very annoying. Please encourage them to go start a company. I\u2019ve had enough.\u201d<\/p>\n A September 2017 email to Musk from Jared Birchall, an adviser to Musk and manager of his family office. He attaches a \u201cmore user friendly version of the cap table that Ilya and Greg are proposing.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, Musk is reflected as having 51.20% of equity, with Altman, Sutskever, and Brockman each having 11.01%, respectively. 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