Musk's Settlement ultimatum to OpenAI surfaces at trial: 'You will be the most hated men in America'

Internal messages between Elon Musk and OpenAI President Greg Brockman have become a flashpoint in Musk's high-stakes lawsuit against the AI company he co-founded, with the court potentially allowing Brockman's testimony on communications that prosecutors argue expose Musk's true motives.

Two days before trial proceedings commenced, Musk reached out to Brockman to "gauge interest" in a settlement, according to a Sunday court filing from OpenAI. Brockman responded with a proposal: both parties should drop their claims. Musk refused. His reply, now central to the proceedings, carried a warning that appears to contradict his stated mission of holding OpenAI accountable for abandoning its nonprofit founding purpose. "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America," Musk wrote. "If you insist, so it will be."

The exchange raises questions about whether Musk's litigation is genuinely aimed at enforcing OpenAI's original humanitarian mission, as his complaint alleges, or whether it serves other interests. OpenAI's legal team has sought to introduce the messages as evidence that the lawsuit reflects personal animus rather than principled accountability. The court has not yet ruled on whether Brockman can testify about the communications. The case centers on allegations that under Sam Altman's leadership, OpenAI shifted away from its nonprofit roots toward commercial interests, a transformation Musk argues betrays the organization's founding agreement to develop artificial intelligence for humanity's benefit.