Filing: Elon Musk texted Greg Brockman about settling days before trial; after being denied, he said Brockman and Altman “will be the most hated men in America”
and got threatening.
CNBCAshley Capoot
Context & Ripple Effects
The related coverage shows the Musk v. Altman dispute moving from jury selection into a public, closely managed trial, with the judge explicitly warning both sides against worsening the conflict through social media. Brockman’s testimony about the value of his OpenAI stake has also put the company’s governance and financial interests under sharper courtroom scrutiny.
The filing adds evidence that a private settlement attempt failed shortly before trial and that the dispute then became more personally confrontational. That matters because litigation conduct and public messaging are now intertwined in a case involving OpenAI’s leaders and a prominent former backer.
First-order effects
The failed settlement leaves Musk, Altman, and Brockman committed to continued litigation rather than a negotiated resolution, with the newly disclosed messages likely to intensify attention on the parties’ conduct.
OpenAI’s leadership faces added reputational pressure as personal threats and stake-value questions become part of the public trial narrative.
Second-order effects
The judge may face greater pressure to police out-of-court communications and ensure that publicity around the dispute does not affect proceedings.
The case’s public framing shifts further from a narrow institutional dispute toward a contest over the credibility and conduct of high-profile AI executives, increasing scrutiny from partners, employees, and other stakeholders.
Third-order effects
If major AI governance disputes are increasingly litigated and amplified through executives’ personal platforms, governance arrangements and founder relationships could become a more material source of operational and reputational risk for AI companies.
The episode underscores a broader tension: as AI companies accumulate high valuations and strategic importance, disputes over mission, control, and economic upside can be harder to contain privately.
The trend: This is one data point in the growing entanglement of AI-company governance conflicts, founder economics, and public-platform-driven litigation strategy.
Musk hired the longtime AI safety researcher and futurist Stuart Russell as an expert witness for the lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI. Russell says his rate is $5,000 an hour and that he spent more than 40 hours preparing for the case. That's $200,000
The judge in this case denied submitting this text as evidence to the jury. She says the plaintiffs should have submitted it during Elon's testimony, where he could have responded. The public has seen it already tho, so, mission accomplished for OAI on the comms battle.
This threat about “the most hated men in America” is not about the trial; it's about Musk's ability to abuse this website to pay mouthpieces to shill for him. It's about Katie Miller being his public defense attorney, etc. Musk's whole game is psychological influence operations.