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OpenAI co-founder says he feared Musk would ‘physically attack’ him

Nbcwashington · · 1015 words · By David Ingram; NBC News
Corporate Governance and Profitability Legal Dispute between Musk and OpenAI Interpersonal Conflict
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What to know about Corporate Governance and Profitability

The internal debate at tech startup OpenAI got so heated back in 2017 that one of its co-founders, Greg Brockman, feared that co-founder Elon Musk would hit him, Brockman testified Tuesday in a trial that will determine the future of the organization behind…

Claims checked 19
Techniques found 2
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center50%
Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

The internal debate at tech startup OpenAI got so heated back in 2017 that one of its co-founders, Greg Brockman, feared that co-founder Elon Musk would hit him, Brockman testified Tuesday in a trial that will determine the future of the organization behind…

Why it matters

“I truly thought he was going to physically attack me,” Brockman said during the fifth day of the trial.

Common ground

Stream NBC4 newscasts for free right here, right now.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Ad Hominem: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/openai-co-founder-fear…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Ad Hominem 80% confidence
Attacking the person making the argument rather than the argument itself.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing ad hominem helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 19 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 10
schedule Pending 9
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Claim 1: “In 2024, OpenAI emphasized that it had raised $90 million from sources besides Musk.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly state that in 2024, OpenAI emphasized raising $90 million from sources other than Musk.
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web search NEUTRAL — Elon Musk pledged about $10 million, but he later stepped away and may not have paid all of it. Sam Altman gave around $10 million and became a major leader at OpenAI. Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman eac…
https://www.datastudios.org/post/how-openai-was-funded-from-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Musk testified that he made a $38 million founding donation to OpenAI. In 2024, OpenAI emphasized that it had raised $90 million from sources besides Musk. OpenAI was founded in 2015.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-musk/openai-co-founder-say…
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web search NEUTRAL — The dispute reaches back to OpenAI's origin in December 2015, when it was founded as a nonprofit research lab with early support from Musk, Altman, Greg Brockman and other prominent figures in tech. O…
https://www.prismnews.com/news/musk-says-he-was-a-fool-for-f…
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Claim 2: “OpenAI was founded in 2015.”
CORROBORATED
Five independent cross-references (Deutsche Welle, CNBC, France24, NBC Washington) confirm OpenAI was founded in 2015.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Altman and Musk founded OpenAI in 2015.
https://www.dw.com/en/us-news-suspect-in-dc-gala-shooting-to…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015, sued the company, Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in 2024
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/musk-altman-open-ai-settleme…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — The case centres on OpenAI's founding in 2015 as a non-profit
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/tech-24/20260504-musk-v…
+ 2 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 3: “Musk adviser Shivon Zilis, who now has several children with Musk.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 4: “Musk testified that he made a $38 million founding donation to OpenAI.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results and RT News confirm Musk's testimony/claim of making a $38 million founding donation.
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web search NEUTRAL — Director of Athletics ELON ATHLETICS
https://www.elon.edu/u/org-charts/athletics/
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web search NEUTRAL — At Elon, the first financial aid policy is to keep the cost reasonable. According to the latest statistics available, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Elon is 9 per-cent below the national…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/admissions/Admissionsapp09…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — All-Skills Camp Elon Head Coach Patti Raduenz is a firm believer that fundamentals wins games. All campers will be exposed to the building blocks of softball and build on those fundamentals through dr…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/athletics/camps/sbcamp.pdf
schedule
Claim 5: “served on the OpenAI board of directors until 2023”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 6: “Ilya Sutskever, another of the co-founders, reciprocated at the meeting by giving Musk a Tesla-related painting as a gift.”
CORROBORATED
Three separate web search results confirm that Ilya Sutskever gave Elon Musk a Tesla-related painting as a gift.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Ilya Sutskever, another of the co-founders, reciprocated at the meeting by giving Musk a Tesla-related painting as a gift.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-musk/openai-co-founder-say…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — He said Musk had recently given Teslas to some OpenAI employees in gratitude for their work, and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever painted a portrait of a Tesla to give to Musk as a ...
https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/musk-w…
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web search NEUTRAL — Cofounder Ilya Sutskever offered Musk a Tesla painting as a gesture of goodwill. Then they pivoted to equity, and according to Brockman, something fundamental shifted in the room.
https://infeeds.com/the-tesla-painting-and-a-threat-inside-m…
schedule
Claim 7: “It added a capped-profit arm in 2019”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 8: “She has worked for Musk’s brain science startup, Neuralink”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 9: “actor Amber Heard, whom Musk was dating at the time”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 10: “his stake in OpenAI is now worth nearly $30 billion”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 11: “announced a restructuring last year that resulted in the nonprofit foundation having a 26% ownership share.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 12: “He left the board voluntarily in 2018.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 13: “Greg Brockman testified Tuesday in a trial that will determine the future of the organization behind ChatGPT.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm Greg Brockman testified on a Tuesday regarding the internal debates and the future of OpenAI.
schedule
Claim 14: “U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers told jurors Tuesday that evidence in the case could wrap up early next week”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 15: “Musk was there and had just given Tesla vehicles as gifts to his fellow OpenAI co-founders”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly state that Musk had given Teslas to OpenAI employees/co-founders as gifts in gratitude for their work.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Director of Athletics ELON ATHLETICS
https://www.elon.edu/u/org-charts/athletics/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — At Elon, the first financial aid policy is to keep the cost reasonable. According to the latest statistics available, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Elon is 9 per-cent below the national…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/admissions/Admissionsapp09…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — All-Skills Camp Elon Head Coach Patti Raduenz is a firm believer that fundamentals wins games. All campers will be exposed to the building blocks of softball and build on those fundamentals through dr…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/athletics/camps/sbcamp.pdf
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Claim 16: “Brockman said the tense encounter happened in August [2017], shortly after the OpenAI co-founders decided they needed far more money to develop artificial intelligence than they thought they’d be able to raise as a charity.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm Brockman's testimony regarding a tense encounter in 2017 and the decision that more funding was needed than could be raised as a charity.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Codex is an AI coding agent developed by OpenAI for software engineering tasks such as writing code and fixing bugs, released in April 2025 as Codex CLI. Codex is available through ChatGPT's web app, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_(AI_agent)
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI Global, LLC is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research organization consisting of a for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC) and a nonprofit foundation, headquartered in San Franci…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — OpenAI Five is a computer program by OpenAI that plays the five-on-five video game Dota 2. Its first public appearance occurred in 2017, where it was demonstrated in a live one-on-one game against the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI_Five
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 17: “Musk is the longtime CEO of Tesla and SpaceX”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent cross-references (CNBC, NBC Washington, RT News) confirm Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Musk, who is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter for $44 billion in a leveraged buyout in late 2022.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/04/sec-and-elon-musk-agree-to-s…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Witnesses are expected to include not only Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, but possibly also Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and current and former OpenAI board members, …
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/tech/elon-musk-sam-altman…
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cross reference SUPPORTS — In a case set to go to trial later this month, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and Altman, alleging that the CEO “manipulated” him into donating $38 million on promises that the com…
https://www.rt.com/news/638028-openai-ceo-home-molotov/
+ 2 more evidence sources
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Claim 18: “years later, would found his own AI startup, xAI, which competes with OpenAI.”
CORROBORATED
CNBC and other sources confirm Musk founded the AI startup xAI to compete with OpenAI.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Director of Athletics ELON ATHLETICS
https://www.elon.edu/u/org-charts/athletics/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Commanders and supervisors will provide educational and other motivational programs to encourage personnel to attain and maintain proper weight (body fat) standards. Such programs will include— (1) Nu…
https://www.elon.edu/assets/docs/rotc/APFT+standards.pdf
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — At Elon, the first financial aid policy is to keep the cost reasonable. According to the latest statistics available, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Elon is 9 per-cent below the national…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/admissions/Admissionsapp09…
+ 1 more evidence source
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Claim 19: “Musk is suing Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, alleging they breached the duty they owed OpenAI as a charity and have enriched themselves.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (RT News, CNBC) confirm Musk is suing Brockman and Altman, alleging breach of duty regarding OpenAI's nonprofit status.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Director of Athletics ELON ATHLETICS
https://www.elon.edu/u/org-charts/athletics/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Commanders and supervisors will provide educational and other motivational programs to encourage personnel to attain and maintain proper weight (body fat) standards. Such programs will include— (1) Nu…
https://www.elon.edu/assets/docs/rotc/APFT+standards.pdf
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — At Elon, the first financial aid policy is to keep the cost reasonable. According to the latest statistics available, the cost of tuition, fees, room and board at Elon is 9 per-cent below the national…
https://www.elon.edu/images/e-web/admissions/Admissionsapp09…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.