The Musk OpenAI trial delivered more than drama in Week 2; it delivered evidence. Private diaries, leaked texts, and sworn testimony collectively reframe the entire conflict. Elon Musk allegedly pushed to convert OpenAI into a for-profit entity himself. He then sued the company for doing exactly that.
READ: Musk v. Altman Trial: Week One Exposed His Weakest Points
Greg Brockman’s Diary Became OpenAI’s Worst Enemy
Musk’s lawyers weaponised OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s personal journals in open court. The entries, introduced through legal discovery, revealed a man thinking about money alongside mission. One entry laid out his financial ambitions plainly; he wanted to reach $1 billion and knew a nonprofit was the wrong vehicle.
Another acknowledged that cutting Musk out and converting to a for-profit structure would be “morally bankrupt” in Brockman’s own words. Most damaging: his admission that he “can’t see us turning this into a for-profit without a very nasty fight.” OpenAI argued the excerpts lacked context. The court heard them regardless.
Brockman also testified that after a company milestone in 2017, Musk signalled it was time for OpenAI’s “next step.” Brockman read that as a push toward a for-profit structure and claims Musk discussed it with him directly at a party. According to Brockman, Musk then delivered an ultimatum: hand him full control of a for-profit arm, or the company stays nonprofit. That testimony transforms the lawsuit. The fight was never about the mission. It was about who runs the machine.
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“Directionally Very Bad”: Sam Altman’s Texts Said Everything
“Directionally very bad”—four words from then-CTO Mira Murati that became the trial’s defining moment. While the OpenAI board was preparing to remove Altman in November 2023, he texted Murati asking whether things were going well or badly. That was her answer.
Altman, still unconvinced, followed up: “Was the board’s decision about him being fired, or some new thing?" Murati confirmed: “Yes, for you to be gone.” The exchange is funny until it isn’t. Murati later testified under oath that Altman had misled her about AI safety protocols and actively undermined her in her CTO role. That is not a texting misunderstanding. That is a senior executive accusing her former boss of deception on the core issues this company claims to be built around.
Musk is demanding $180 billion in damages linked to OpenAI’s for-profit operations, a figure signaling that whatever the verdict, this case will echo across the entire AI industry.
READ: AI Ethics, Religion, and Why You Can't Leave It to Silicon Valley
Shivon Zilis and the For-Profit Conversation Musk Wants Buried
The week’s most consequential testimony came from Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and close associate of Musk. Emails from 2017 and 2018, placed in evidence, show discussions about converting OpenAI to a for-profit model. Musk was part of those conversations. One proposal involved folding OpenAI into Tesla as a public benefit subsidiary. Another suggested recruiting Altman to anchor Tesla’s AI push.
Zilis denied acting as an internal OpenAI source for Musk. She described their relationship during the period she conceived twins with him via IVF in 2021 as “platonic”; she did not disclose the children to her own father until after they were born. She later had two more children with him.
The personal details are a distraction. The substantive revelation is this: the man suing OpenAI for abandoning its nonprofit mission was entertaining that same transition years earlier. The testimony repositions the entire lawsuit. Musk was not defending a mission. He was contesting ownership of a transition he had already entertained on the condition that he led it.
The trial will not produce clean winners. It is producing something more useful: a clear picture of how power actually moves inside the world’s most consequential AI company.
The Musk vs OpenAI verdict will reshape AI governance well beyond Silicon Valley. Follow every ruling with the GizPulse newsletter.
