Eseandre Mordi
⬤ Court documents recently made public show OpenAI's founders were wrestling with major decisions about the company's future back in 2017. The filings include private notes from co-founder Greg Brockman that paint a picture of an organization trying to figure out its identity while dealing with tough questions about money, control, and who should be calling the shots.
⬤ In a September 2017 entry, Brockman wrote about his worries regarding Elon Musk's role at OpenAI. He openly questioned whether Musk should stay as the main leader and wondered what it would take to build a billion-dollar company. Brockman's notes suggest he believed accepting Musk's terms could hurt OpenAI's independence and mess up its financial future.
⬤ Another document from a November 6, 2017 meeting between Brockman, Sam Altman, and Ilya Sutskever shows the team discussing whether to stick with their nonprofit model or explore other options like becoming a benefit corporation. Brockman admitted they were worried about publicly committing to stay nonprofit when they might actually go a different direction later—which could look dishonest down the road.
⬤ These documents give us a behind-the-scenes look at OpenAI's early growing pains, long before it became the AI powerhouse it is today. While there's no suggestion anyone broke the law, the filings show how disagreements about money, power, and organizational structure shaped the company during a pivotal moment. It's a reminder that even the biggest tech players face messy internal debates that can completely change their trajectory.
Eseandre Mordi
