More than 100 documents detailing texts, emails, and even diary entries from some of the world's most powerful tech executives were unsealed on Tuesday as part of Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.
The documents provide a rare window into the inner workings of Silicon Valley — from late-night texts to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to debates between Altman and Musk about OpenAI's future. The documents also include previously unreleased writing from Nadella, as well as several entries from the personal diary of OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman.
In his lawsuit, filed in 2024, Musk alleges that OpenAI executives misled him when they decided to move the company away from its original nonprofit mission and pursue a profit-oriented structure. Musk said he donated $38 million to OpenAI when it was originally founded as a nonprofit organization.
OpenAI has denied the allegations and said the billionaire was aware of the company's plans to shift to a for-profit structure.
"Mr. Musk's lawsuit continues to be baseless and a part of his ongoing pattern of harassment, and we look forward to demonstrating this at trial," an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement. "We remain focused on empowering the OpenAI Foundation, which is already one of the best-resourced nonprofits ever."
On Wednesday, a California federal judge said there was sufficient evidence for a jury to consider Musk's claim. The two tech execs are now set to face off in court in March, though they could still settle before that.
Business Insider reviewed hundreds of pages of newly unsealed documents. Take a look at some of the most interesting details we've found:
Greg Brockman debated getting 'out from Elon' in his private diary
The court documents included snippets from OpenAI cofounder Brockman's diary.
Brockman mused about being "free" and owning his "destiny" and "Financially what will take me to $1B?"
Brockman said during a deposition last year that his "primary motivation was to the mission," and the "financial reward" was a secondary consideration.
In the diary, Brockman broke down the pros and cons of parting ways with Musk. "Some chance that rejecting Elon will actually lose us Sam. We'll find out tomorrow if doing an override all the way through is palettable," the diary read. "This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon. Is he the 'glorious leader' that I would pick?"
In a separate entry, Brockman debated how OpenAI would move forward and turn a profit, breaking down how to pitch OpenAI's mission and secure funding from companies like Tesla or Google.
Musk's right-hand man stepped back from his role as Neuralink CFO
During a September deposition, Jared Birchall, who runs Musk's family office and has roles across several of his businesses, was asked about his job at Neuralink.
Birchall said he was only operating as "the named CFO" because the brain chip company had recently hired a new head of finance, to whom they had yet to transfer the title.
According to a review of LinkedIn profiles, William Sawyer became Neuralink's head of finance in August.
Sawyer declined to comment when reached by Business Insider.
Nadella said he had a Neuralink investment
Microsoft's CEO said in a 2025 deposition that his financial advisor had invested some of his money in Neuralink.
Nadella said he hadn't talked to Musk about it.
At another point in the deposition, Nadella described his feelings toward Musk.
"I mean, Elon is a pretty idiosyncratic guy in the sense he has a lot of opinions on lots of things, but what I have found to be most inspiring is how he goes about building what he does," Nadella said.
Microsoft's CEO helped work on a book about AI
According to a document dated July 10, 2023, Nadella was working on a book called "An Inflection Point: Mission, transformation, and the dawn of next generation AI."
The document included sample chapters and was co-written by Harvard business professor Marco Iansiti.
A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company has been working with Iansiti and Keystone Research over the years, and didn't end up publishing the book.
Musk asked Nvidia's CEO for help
Musk emailed Jensen Huang in 2016, asking for one of the company's first supercomputers.
"Can OpenAI buy one of the early units? The team was asking me about this earlier today," Musk wrote.
"I've not forgotten," Huang responded. "I will make sure OpenAI gets one of the first ones."
Musk warned OpenAI could lose to Google
"OpenAI is on a path of certain failure relative to Google," Musk wrote in a January 2018 email to Altman.
"There obviously needs to be immediate and dramatic action or everyone except for Google will be consigned to irrelevance," he said.
Musk left OpenAI's board in February 2018. At the time, he cited a potential conflict of interest with Tesla and its AI work.
"To be clear, I have a lot of respect for your abilities and accomplishments, but I am not happy with how things have been managed," Musk wrote in the 2018 email. "Either we fix things and my engagement increases a lot or we don't and I will drop to near zero and publicly reduce my association. I will not be in a situation where the perception of my influence and time doesn't match the reality."
Musk pushed OpenAI to pursue Microsoft over Amazon
"What happened to Amazon?" Musk wrote in an August 2016 email to Altman about OpenAI's efforts to negotiate funding from an outside tech company.
"I think Jeff is a bit of a tool and Satya is not, so I slightly prefer Microsoft, but I hate their marketing dept," Musk wrote.
In response, Altman said Amazon "started really dicking us around."
OpenAI announced a deal with Microsoft in July 2019.
OpenAI's former CTO sent Microsoft's CEO a text asking for support after Altman was ousted
Microsoft offered Altman a role after the OpenAI CEO was ousted by the company's board in November 2023. Altman's departure spawned an open letter that was signed by hundreds of OpenAI employees who threatened to leave if Altman was not brought back as CEO.
"Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join," a portion of the letter read.
Mira Murati, OpenAI's then-CTO, signed the open letter. She addressed Microsoft's support in a text to Nadella.
"Hi Satya, I know it's super late. Need to call you urgently," said the text, which asked Nadella to confirm whether Microsoft planned to offer roles to OpenAI staff.
"Thx. So sorry. But that is right," Nadella responded the following morning.
"Satya could you please make a public statement soon that shows support for the joint openai team, basically bringing the team together?" Murati responded. It's very important that we don't lose researchers to Demis or Elon. The technical team is being dragged in so many recruiting directions and a unified front would help immensely."
Altman told Musk he was hurt by his public comments about OpenAI
"i remember seeing you in a tv interview a long time ago (maybe 60 minutes?) where you being attacked by some guys, and you said they were heroes of yours and it was really tough," Altman texted Musk in February 2023. "well, you're my hero and that's what it feels like when you attack OpenAI."
Altman also wrote that "it really fucking hurts when you publicly attack openai."
"I hear you and it is certainly not my intention to be hurtful, for which I apologize, but the fate of civilization is at stake," Musk responded.
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