OpenAI president Greg Brockman testifies in Elon Musk lawsuit, forced to read personal journal entries aloud in court

Brockman, OpenAI's president, has spent multiple days testifying in a trial where Elon Musk alleges that OpenAI abandoned its nonprofit mission to enrich leaders like Brockman and Sam Altman. Brockman's personal journal entries—roughly 100 pages written between 2015 and 2023—were submitted as evidence by OpenAI in October, initially sealed, then unsealed in January.

Musk's legal team presented journal passages where Brockman discussed a potential for-profit transition and wrote about earning $1 billion as a career goal. Brockman has testified these entries reflect his stream-of-consciousness exploration of different viewpoints and concerns about OpenAI's mission under various leadership scenarios, not straightforward statements of his own intentions. He noted his stake is worth about $30 billion today, acquired after OpenAI created a for-profit arm in 2018.

The testimony has been conducted in a packed courthouse and livestreamed on YouTube, with the livestream peaking at around 1,200 viewers. Brockman stated the journal was never intended for public reading and called the experience 'very painful.'