Musk Demands 'Dynasty' Control: Altman Reveals Details of Past Rift

According to Dynamic Beating monitoring, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in federal court for the first time on Tuesday, revealing the secret details of Elon Musk's 2018 exit from the core decision-making circle of OpenAI: Contrary to the public statement of "ideological differences," Musk's extreme desire for control was the real trigger.

Altman testified that Musk had once forcefully demanded to turn OpenAI into a subsidiary of Tesla. When other founders questioned, "What happens to the company after you have absolute power," Musk's response was, "Maybe it should be passed on to my children." Altman described this proposal as "chilling." Out of consensus on "no single individual should control AGI," the founding team rejected Musk's takeover plan.

After being rejected, Musk cut off the routine $5 million quarterly donation in early 2018 and declared in an email: without him, the chances of OpenAI's success were "not 1%, but 0%." Altman countered this by stating that Musk didn't understand how to manage a research lab, often using pressure tactics such as ranking researchers; the day he finally left, on the contrary, greatly "boosted OpenAI's morale."

Musk attempted to use this lawsuit to accuse OpenAI of stealing from a charity, but Altman's testimony turned the tables: Who was the one who left because he couldn't privatize and family-control AGI?