How Elon Musk left OpenAI, according to Greg Brockman
Key takeaways
- In late August 2017, key figures at Open AI (then a small non-profit research lab) gathered to discuss how they would create a for-profit to commercialize its technology and raise the funds needed to realize AGI.
- Elon Musk was demanding full control of the company and had just given each of his cofounders a Tesla Model 3.
- The conversation didn t follow that mood: When Musk was told the others would not accede to his demand for control of the company, Brockman said he got angry and upset.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
In late August 2017, key figures at Open AI (then a small non-profit research lab) gathered to discuss how they would create a for-profit to commercialize its technology and raise the funds needed to realize AGI.
Elon Musk was demanding full control of the company and had just given each of his cofounders a Tesla Model 3. CTO Greg Brockman said he saw that as way of buttering them up at a time when Musk and Sam Altman were vying to win support for their respective visions of the company s future. OpenAI s head of research, Ilya Sutskever, had commissioned of a painting of a Tesla to give Musk during the meeting as a friendly gesture.
The conversation didn t follow that mood: When Musk was told the others would not accede to his demand for control of the company, Brockman said he got angry and upset. He sat for several minutes thinking quietly.