Sam Altman: Elon Musk said control of OpenAI should go to his children

Sam Altman testified that Elon Musk sought control of OpenAI and suggested the company could pass to his children, according to court proceedings detailed by the BBC^[1][2]. Altman said he was "extremely uncomfortable" with Musk's proposals.

In testimony before a federal jury in Oakland, California, Altman recounted that Musk, a co-founder, attempted to gain control of OpenAI after its 2015 founding^[1][2]. The proposals included Musk becoming chief executive, gaining more board seats, and having OpenAI become a subsidiary of Tesla^[1][2]. When asked what would happen to the company upon his death, Musk suggested it "maybe it should pass to my children," Altman told the court^[1][2]. Altman said Musk believed his business reputation entitled him to lead the AI firm, claiming a single tweet from him would make it "instantly worth a ton"^[2]. However, Altman and fellow co-founders Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever refused to hand over control, believing no single person should control the pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI)^[2]. Musk left OpenAI in early 2018 and ceased his financial donations to the organization^[1]. The testimony is part of a lawsuit in which Musk accuses Altman of having "looted a charity," a reference to OpenAI's transition from a non-profit to a for-profit business structure^[2].