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Core Memory · 3 min · Apr 22, 2026

Altman says the trial will let OpenAI tell its founding story

Greg Brockman says OpenAI will explain why it rejected Musk's demand for absolute control during negotiations over a for-profit structure. He sees the trial as a chance to put the founders' account on the record.

Greg Brockman

Co-founder, OpenAI

Co-founded OpenAI, where he serves as president; previously Stripe's first chief technology officer from 2013.

  • Ashlee Vance, Host · CEO, Core Memory

    Wrote the best-selling biography Elon Musk; covered tech for Bloomberg Businessweek, The Economist and The New York Times.

  • KR

    Kylie Robison, Host · Co-host, Core Memory

About this segment

Greg Brockman says OpenAI will explain why it rejected Musk's demand for absolute control during negotiations over a for-profit structure. He sees the trial as a chance to put the founders' account on the record.

From “The OpenAI Founders On Their Plan To Battle Elon, Compute And Everything Else”, Apr 22, 2026. Watch the full episode

“That was the breaking point. That was the thing that caused us to say no.”
Greg Brockmanat 1:18:55 · Core Memory1:18:55

Takeaways

  1. The founders had agreed a for-profit structure was needed.
  2. Musk sought majority equity, the CEO role and absolute control.
  3. Brockman says control was the breaking point.

In this episode

Full episode
  1. 39:01AI could raise living standards and deepen inequality5:26
  2. 50:52OpenAI is building agents for computer work and personal life7:29

  3. 1:16:50Altman says the trial will let OpenAI tell its founding story2:49

  4. 5 more moments in the full episode
Up next · Lenny's PodcastClose relationships helped Snapchat solve distribution2:50

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 1:16:56

    I mean, how existential do you view this trial? I actually think it's a real opportunity for us to tell our story. Because if you look at the course of OpenAI, we have really let the other sides, when there's splits, tell the story. And we really have done our best not to sort of say, well, that's not really what happened. And like, let's talk about the truth. And that in this case, we finally have no choice, right?

  2. 1:17:27

    Because we have to defend ourselves. We have to tell the truth. We have to tell what happened. And I'm extremely proud. Like I've spent a lot of time looking back at the history and a bunch of different messages. And of course, there's always things that you can like try to like cherry pick, be like, aha, you said this thing. Your diaries are famous. I know, right? But the thing is that they're not because, and first of all, incredibly personal documents, extremely painful to have something so personal be sort of taken from you and then attempt it to be weaponized. But those particular sentences are kind of the worst thing that the opposition could find. You're like, really? And the thing is, they're all taken out of context, right? The question of, hey, we're in the middle of this negotiation, right? We've all agreed the only path forward for OpenAI is a for-profit. Sam,

  3. 1:18:10

    Ilya, Greg, Elon, we all agreed on this. We all said, this is what we got to do. This is literally 3D thing for the mission. And now you're in this crazy negotiation, right? Elon's like, you need majority equity. You need to be CEO. You need full control. And we got so close. It's like, okay, fine. Okay, we're not going to be equal partners. You need this massive amount of equity. If that's what you say you need, we would like you to be involved. We can get there. Okay, fine.

  4. 1:18:36

    Sam will be CEO. Elon will be CEO. He needs it so everyone knows he's in charge. Fine. but absolute control, absolute control over OpenAI. Even if you say, well, I'll dilute down, I'll give it up in the future. And you're like, what is our mission? Do we really believe in our mission? Do we really care about this picture of we want this technology to benefit everyone and there shouldn't be one person in charge of the whole future? It doesn't matter who that person is. That was the breaking point. That was the thing that caused us to say no. And so we've never told that story for years, but now we will. And so I think that it is a real opportunity for people to understand what truly motivates us, what we truly stand for. I think it's insane that he's doing this, but I'm kind of, my fear at this point is he decides to like drop the case right before

  5. 1:19:22

    the trial and we don't get to do all this, but I am happy to like explain all this to the world and have this chapter behind us. Okay. So my question is rounding back to the beginning of this podcast. Like I was talking about this narrative. I feel like I, as an AI reporter,