OAKLAND, Calif. — Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and CEO Sam Altman’s top lieutenant, disclosed in court Monday that his stake in the artificial intelligence company is worth nearly $30 billion.
Brockman, who also said he did not personally invest any money in OpenAI, was testifying Monday in the trial that centers on the company’s 2015 founding as a nonprofit startup primarily funded by Elon Musk before evolving into a capitalistic venture now valued at $852 billion.
Brockman’s disclosure would put him on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people, with wealth comparable to Melinda French Gates.
The civil lawsuit accuses Altman and Brockman of double-crossing Musk by straying from the San Francisco company’s founding mission to be an altruistic steward of a revolutionary technology. The lawsuit alleges they shifted into a moneymaking mode behind Musk’s back.
Late Sunday, OpenAI lawyers tried to admit as evidence a text message Musk sent to Brockman two days before the trial began. According to a court filing – which did not include the actual text exchange – Musk sent a message to Brockman to gauge interest in settlement.
When Brockman replied that both sides should drop their respective claims, Musk shot back, according to the filing, “By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be.”
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is overseeing the trial, did not admit the text exchange as evidence.
