Elon Musk texted OpenAI president Greg Brockman two days before the Musk v. OpenAI trial began last week, suggested a settlement, and then warned that 'by the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be.' That's according to a Sunday filing from OpenAI's lawyers, which tried to enter the exchange into the trial record. The judge ruled it inadmissible.
The filing did not attach the text messages themselves. Most of the document was OpenAI's argument for why the settlement exchange belonged in evidence — an argument the court rejected, per TechCrunch's Tim Fernholz, who is covering the trial in person.
The sequence, as OpenAI tells it: Musk reached out to Brockman privately. Brockman responded by proposing both sides drop their suits. Musk's reply was the line about being the most hated men in America. The trial proceeded on schedule.
Key facts
- 01OpenAI filed the text exchange on Sunday, two days before the Musk v. OpenAI trial began last week.
- 02Musk texted Greg Brockman suggesting a settlement; Brockman countered with mutual dismissal.
- 03Musk's reply, per the filing: 'By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America.'
- 04The judge ruled the text exchange inadmissible as evidence.
- 05Musk's suit seeks to unwind OpenAI's for-profit structure and strip Microsoft's licensing agreement.
Musk's lawsuit asks the court to unwind OpenAI's for-profit conversion, force its technology into the public domain, void Microsoft's licensing agreement, and award him general, compensatory, and punitive damages plus legal fees. It is, by any measure, a maximalist suit.
“By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be.”— Jaeden Schafer
OpenAI's countersuit argues the case is less about AI safety than about Musk extracting value from a company he left and now competes against through xAI. The 'settle-or-else' text, in OpenAI's framing, is the tell.
This is the latest in a string of unflattering disclosures from the trial's first weeks. Musk has already conceded under questioning that xAI used distillation on OpenAI's models to train Grok, a point AI Chat Daily covered last week. Earlier filings surfaced a 2018 'World War III' reference Musk made on Twitter about AI competition.
The settlement-text episode also follows reporting that Musk's side had floated settlement terms before trial — a sequence we covered earlier. Taken together, the public record now shows Musk seeking to end the case shortly before stepping into a courtroom where his texts, tweets, and depositions would be read back to him.
Musk's only expert witness, Berkeley professor Stuart Russell, has testified about the risks of an AGI arms race. That framing — safety, not money — is the through-line of Musk's public case. The Brockman text, if the jury ever heard it, would cut against that framing directly. The judge's ruling means they will not.
Brockman and Sam Altman have not publicly responded to the contents of the filing. OpenAI's legal strategy throughout the trial has been to keep the focus on Musk's competitive interests in xAI rather than on the governance questions Musk's complaint raises about the for-profit conversion and the Microsoft deal.
There are reasons to be cautious about OpenAI's account. The exchange wasn't entered into evidence, the texts weren't attached to the filing, and the framing comes from one side of an active lawsuit. Musk's team has not offered its version of the conversation in public. The judge's inadmissibility ruling means the full context may never be aired in court.
Whatever the underlying truth of the exchange, the filing itself is now part of the public record, which was almost certainly the point. OpenAI is fighting this case in two venues at once — in front of the judge, and in front of everyone reading coverage of it. On the second front, a leaked-then-rejected text about being 'the most hated men in America' is the kind of detail that defines a narrative long after the verdict lands.
Working on something we should cover, or seeing a story we missed? Send leads, documents, or feedback to hello@aichatdaily.com. For sensitive tips, see our secure tips page for Signal and PGP options.
Spotted an error? Email hello@aichatdaily.com with the URL and the issue, or read our full corrections policy.
