Court filings show Elon Musk offered settlement two days before OpenAI trial

Elon Musk tried to settle with OpenAI right before trial — and the way it happened tells you a lot about what this case has become. A new court filing says Musk texted OpenAI president Greg Brockman on April 25 to see if a deal was possible, just two days before the trial started in federal court in Oakland on April 28. When Brockman floated a mutual walk-away, the exchange turned sharp fast. OpenAI says Musk replied that Brockman and Sam Altman would be “the most hated men in America” by week’s end if they insisted on fighting. ### What is this trial actually about? At the core, this is Musk’s attempt to argue that OpenAI broke the deal he thought he signed up for. He says the company abandoned its original nonprofit mission and turned his early support into fuel for a giant commercial machine. He sued OpenAI, Altman, Brockman, Microsoft, and related entities in 2024, and he’s asking for governance changes plus $150 billion in damages. ### Why does the settlement text matter? Because OpenAI wants the judge to see motive, not just legal theory. Its lawyers argued the text helps show Musk is not simply trying to protect a charitable mission — he is also attacking a rival and its leaders. Musk now runs xAI, which competes directly in the ### Why was Brockman in the spotlight this week? Because the case has moved from abstract arguments about mission into very concrete questions about money. On Monday, Brockman testified that his OpenAI stake is worth nearly $30 billion. That number landed hard because Musk’s case leans on the idea that OpenAI’s leaders personally benefited from a structure that was supposed to serve the public first. ### How big is OpenAI now, really? Huge — in a way that changes how every courtroom argument sounds. OpenAI said on March 31 that it closed a $122 billion funding round at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Once a company is worth that much, fights over nonprofit intent stop sounding academic. They become fights over who controls one of the most valuable private companies on earth. ### What has Musk said on the stand? He has painted OpenAI as a charity that got hijacked. During testimony last week, he said he did not read the fine print of a 2017 term sheet tied to OpenAI’s restructuring and kept repeating that the for-profit arm became “the tail wagging the dog.” That line is basically his whole case in miniature — the nonprofit shell remained, but the commercial engine took over. ### Why doesn’t this just settle? Because the two sides are no longer arguing over a clean business dispute. They are fighting over origin stories, personal credibility, and control of AI’s biggest prize. Brockman’s suggested compromise — both sides drop everything — would have ended the war without proposture of the case. ### What happens next? The trial is expected to last several weeks, with a possible verdict by mid-May. Altman, Brockman, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are all expected to testify. So the next phase is less about founding mythology and more about whether OpenAI’s current structure, payouts, and partnerships look like evolution — or betrayal. ### Bottom line? The settlement text is not the whole case. But it strips away the polite framing. This is a mission lawsuit on paper, a power fight in practice, and now the courtroom is seeing both sides at full scale.