Altman Says Musk Wanted Control of OpenAI: California Brief

Altman Details ‘Hair-Raising’ Musk Chat

Sam Altman arrives at federal court in Oakland on May 12

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Sam Altman told jurors in Oakland that he was “extremely uncomfortable” with Elon Musk’s push for complete control of a proposed OpenAI for-profit subsidiary in 2017, offering some of the trial’s sharpest testimony yet about the breakdown between the company’s co-founders, Madlin Mekelburg and Rachel Metz report.

Altman said Musk insisted he needed control in OpenAI’s early days but wouldn’t sign a contract limiting that power. He recounted a “particularly hair-raising moment” when co-founders asked what would happen if Musk died and, according to Altman, Musk suggested control might pass to ...