Court Emails Reveal Musk-Altman Power Struggle Behind OpenAI’s Founding and Split

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit research organization on December 11, 2015, with Elon Musk and Sam Altman initially seeking to create a “free digital intelligence” that could serve as a counterweight to Google DeepMind. The founding team announced funding commitments totaling $1 billion, but Musk and Altman later split over control, fundraising and the path to commercialization.

Recently released emails from OpenAI’s founding period, disclosed in U.S. court proceedings, show that Musk sought a 51.2% stake and control of the board in 2017. He also proposed that SpaceX acquire OpenAI and compensate the team with SpaceX stock. After negotiations collapsed, Musk left the board in February 2018. The documents also reveal that “Freemind” was considered as a possible name for the organization.