From Reuters, May 4:
- Brockman reveals $30 billion OpenAI stake and $10 million from Altman in court
- Musk alleges OpenAI abandoned nonprofit mission, seeks leadership ouster and damages
- OpenAI claims Musk motivated by control and rivalry, disputes his safety and nonprofit claims
OpenAI's co-founder and president, Greg Brockman, on Monday disclosed deeper financial ties to CEO Sam Altman than previously known as well as a stake in the ChatGPT maker worth almost $30 billion.The details were shared in court during questioning by a lawyer for Elon Musk, who co-founded OpenAI and is now suing the company on grounds that it improperly became a for-profit company, abandoned charitable goals and should turn back into a nonprofit.Musk's team said that Brockman's independence was potentially compromised by financial incentives that led him to support Altman, the driver behind OpenAI's reinvention as a for-profit company. Brockman also disclosed in court that he holds stakes in two startups backed by Altman as well as a percentage of Altman's family fund.The trial, in its second week in a California courtroom, could determine the future of OpenAI, which sparked a widespread craze over generative artificial intelligence after launching its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. Since then, OpenAI has raised well over $100 billion from investors to hire researchers, buy computing power and expand the company ahead of a potential trillion-dollar IPO.Musk is seeking the ouster of Altman and Brockman from leadership as well as $150 billion in damages.Brockman early in his testimony agreed that his stake in OpenAI was worth close to $30 billion, a figure not previously known. In 2017, Altman gave Brockman a stake in Altman's family office that was worth $10 million at the time. That same year, Brockman, Musk and other OpenAI executives discussed restructuring OpenAI as a for-profit so the organization could pay for the pricey computing power required to train AI systems.2017 COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENT....
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