\u201cthat\u2019d be pretty morally bankrupt.\u201d<\/p>\n
This would have been bad enough. But the journal entries \u2014 a series of text files from his computer \u2014 were worse, because they were very clear about Brockman\u2019s greed and opportunism at least circa 2017. Here\u2019s one: \u201cbtw another realization from this is that it\u2019d be wrong to steal the non-profit from him. to convert to a b-corp without him. that\u2019d be pretty morally bankrupt and he\u2019s really not an idiot.\u201d Here\u2019s another: \u201cmaybe we should just flip to a for-profit. making money for us sounds great and all.\u201d There\u2019s also this: \u201ccannot say we are committed to the non-profit. don\u2019t wanna say we\u2019re committed. if three months later we\u2019re doing a b-corp it is a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be wrong to steal the non-profit from him\u201d is very close to Musk\u2019s \u201csteal a charity\u201d line, I notice.<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t finished the direct examination yet, so I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be hearing something exculpatory about the events that inspired these entries. But between Brockman\u2019s attitude toward the cross and the journal entries, I don\u2019t think I\u2019d trust him to watch my bag while I used the restroom.<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s team is trying to paint Brockman as being greedy, which I buy. The infamous \u201cWhat will take me to $1B?\u201d from Brockman\u2019s journal made an appearance. We established that Brockman\u2019s stake in OpenAI\u2019s for-profit was worth about $30 billion. Molo asked Brockman why he hadn\u2019t donated $29 billion to OpenAI\u2019s non-profit arm if $1 billion was enough for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are we fighting about the fucking purple box?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brockman could have said something like, \u201cIf I dumped all my holdings all at once, OpenAI would receive a lot less than $39 billion, because that\u2019s how supply and demand works.\u201d He might have said something like, \u201cIt\u2019s an important signal to other investors for me to have skin in the game.\u201d Or maybe, \u201cThat\u2019s just my net worth on paper. It\u2019s not real.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t do any of this. Brockman replied with nonsense about how much the non-profit\u2019s stake in the for-profit was worth. Molo said that didn\u2019t answer his question and asked again. We went back and forth on this for quite some time; the jury\u2019s heads snapped to and fro as though they were watching a tennis match. Brockman never did answer the question.<\/p>\n
No detail was too small to argue over. Molo asked if purple boxes were something OpenAI generally used to call attention to something important, and Brockman said no. Then we all read in the document that OpenAI generally used them in employee and investor paperwork to highlight important things. In my notes I have written, \u201cWhy are we fighting about the fucking purple box?\u201d<\/p>\n
Molo landed another major blow by bringing up the various deals that OpenAI had with companies Brockman had a stake in: Cerebras, CoreWeave<\/a>, Stripe, and Helion Energy. Given the sheer number of companies that use Stripe, its OpenAI deal seems piddling \u2014 but the OpenAI commitments seriously matter to both Cerebras and CoreWeave.<\/p>\n \u201cI do all the things.\u201d<\/p>\n Brockman also has direct financial ties to Altman because of a compensation package he was offered when they started OpenAI. He holds a 1 percent stake in Altman\u2019s family office, which Brockman got in lieu of Y Combinator stock because \u201cwe ran out of Y Combinator stock fulfilling other [employees\u2019] offers.\u201d In a 2017 email, Musk\u2019s bodyman, Jared Birchall, writes to Musk that Altman disclosed that to him, and Musk forwards the Birchall email to Brockman with a \u201c??\u201d Apparently Musk didn\u2019t know about the deal, and Brockman had to explain it.<\/p>\n I am dwelling on the various ways that Brockman made himself untrustworthy because it\u2019s fun to watch powerful men squirm. But it also has colored my view of his direct testimony, which started afterwards. Brockman began by telling a story of OpenAI\u2019s founding that sounded like it had been polished for a thousand podcasts and keynote speeches. When asked what he did as the president of OpenAI, he replied, \u201cI do all the things.\u201d If we had not been in a courtroom, I would have screamed. Millennial vocabulary is a fucking tragedy<\/a>.<\/p>\n In this telling, OpenAI was Brockman and Sam Altman\u2019s idea. Brockman had told Altman about his interest in AI as he was leaving Stripe (\u201cI\u2019m thinking about doing an AI thing,\u201d to which Altman apparently said, \u201cI\u2019m also thinking about doing an AI thing.\u201d). They kept in touch. The original idea was purportedly to have a Y Combinator research arm, which Musk shot down because he didn\u2019t want to be affiliated with Y Combinator.<\/p>\n Musk seemed \u201cvery consistent and fixated\u201d on Hassabis<\/p>\n Imagine a montage of cozy dinners, trips to Napa (\u201cour van got stalled for an hour and a half in traffic and no one noticed\u201d because the conversation was so good), AI conferences. Gee whiz! It was so neat-o! Everyone got along so well and had such great creative energy! We were treated to a very long retelling of Ilya Sutskever waffling about leaving Google, and then a photo Brockman took of the first day of OpenAI, with everyone working from his apartment. (In the photo: Altman. Missing: Musk.) I think you get my drift; I certainly got Brockman\u2019s. This was Altman\u2019s and Brockman\u2019s baby. It was only after Musk had done closing calls with the team that Altman and Brockman had assembled that Musk told them he wanted to be more involved.<\/p>\n Musk appeared in the testimony as a distant and at times menacing figure. At one dinner, he asked if Google\u2019s Denis Hassabis was evil. In fact, Musk seemed \u201cvery consistent and fixated\u201d on Hassabis, and never so much as mentioned Larry Page, who in Musk\u2019s telling was the reason OpenAI came to be<\/a>. In text messages from Sutskever to Brockman, Sutskever wrote, \u201cElon might spend half a day a week with us. I imagined how it will be and I worry that our work environment can become very stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n Sutskever was correct to worry; Musk is famously difficult. I imagine we will hear more about that tomorrow. But as it stands so far, the jury will have to decide who of two not-especially-trustworthy men it trusts more. 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