이 기사는 2017년 OpenAI의 비영리 법인 전환 과정에서 일론 머스크가 회사의 절대적인 통제권을 요구했다가 거절당한 후 격노하며 퇴사한 당시의 상황을 그렉 브록만의 증언을 바탕으로 다룹니다. 이 격렬했던 창업자 간의 갈등은 현재 머스크가 OpenAI를 상대로 제기한 소송의 핵심 배경이 되었습니다. AGI(범용 인공지능) 구현을 위한 막대한 자금 조달과 기업 지배권을 둘러싼 창업자들의 이해관계 충돌을 엿볼 수 있는 중요한 사안입니다.
번역된 본문
2017년 8월 말, OpenAI(당시 소규모 비영리 연구소)의 핵심 인사들이 모여 범용 인공지능(AGI)을 실현하는 데 필요한 자금을 조달하고 기술을 상업화하기 위해 어떻게 영리 법인을 설립할지 논의했습니다. 일론 머스크는 회사의 완전한 통제권을 요구하고 있었으며, 그 직전 공동 창업자들에게 테슬라 모델 3를 한 대씩 선물했습니다. CTO 그렉 브록만은 머스크와 샘 알트만이 회사의 미래를 위한 각자의 비전에 대한 지지를 얻기 위해 경쟁하던 시기에 이것이 사람들의 환심을 사기 위한 수단이었다고 밝혔습니다. OpenAI의 연구 책임자 일리야 수츠케버는 회의 중 우호적인 제스처로 머스크에게 건넬 테슬라 그림을 의뢰했습니다. 하지만 대화는 그런 분위기로 이어지지 않았습니다. 머스크가 회사 통제권 요구에 다른 이들이 동의하지 않는다는 말을 듣고 브록만은 그가 화를 내며 분개했다고 말했습니다. 머스크는 몇 분 동안 조용히 앉아 생각에 잠겼습니다. 그리고 브록만의 말에 따르면, 머스크는 "나는 거절한다(I decline)"고 말했습니다. 스페이스X와 테슬라의 창립자는 "자리에서 일어나 테이블 주위를 성큼성큼 걸어 다녔습니다... 저는 그가 저를 때릴지도 모른다고 생각했습니다. 그는 그 그림을 낚아채고 방을 박차고 나가려 했습니다. 그러다가 갑자기 뒤를 돌아보며 '당신들은 언제 OpenAI를 떠날 건가요?'라고 물었습니다." 브록만과 수츠케버는 떠나지 않았고 머스크의 비전에 동조하지도 않았습니다. 머스크는 회사의 운영 예산에 대한 정기적인 기부를 중단했고, 6개월 이내에 이사회를 떠났습니다. 다만 2020년까지 회사가 뉴럴링크(Neuralink)와 공유하던 사무실의 임대료는 지불했습니다.
OpenAI의 미래를 놓고 벌어지는 오늘날의 법적 공방이 계속되면서, 조직의 원래 공동 창립자들이 누가 그 미래를 통제할지를 두고 의견이 엇갈렸던 2017년의 핵심적인 시기가 조사 대상이 되었고, 이는 결국 머스크가 공동 창립자들을 상대로 소송을 제기하는 결과로 이어졌습니다. 우리는 아직 샘 알트만의 이야기를 직접 듣지 못했지만, OpenAI의 사장인 그렉 브록만은 이틀 동안 증언했으며, 종종 개인 일기를 인용하며 일론 머스크와 치열한 갈등을 겪는 30세 테크 경영진의 모습을 엿볼 수 있는 귀중한 통찰을 제공했습니다.
[TechCrunch 행사 광고]
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브록만은 이 일기로 인한 언론의 관심에 대해 "매우 고통스럽다"며, 이를 "세상에 결코 공개되기를 원하지 않았던 매우 개인적인 글"이라고 부르면서도 "부끄러울 것은 하나도 없다"고 말했습니다. 스타트업 창업자들 간의 무자비한 협상은 이렇게 공개적으로 공유되는 경우가 거의 없으며, 특히 그 회사가 OpenAI만큼 세상을 바꾸는 기업이 되었을 때는 더욱 그렇습니다. 우리는 최근 OpenAI 변호사들이 재판 시작 이틀 전 머스크가 브록만에게 보낸 텍스트 메시지를 공개하면서 이러한 악의적인 감정을 엿볼 수 있었습니다. "이번 주가 끝나갈 즈음, 당신과 샘은 미국에서 가장 증오받는 남자가 될 것입니다. 당신들이 고집한다면, 그렇게 될 것입니다." 배심원은 이 메모를 보지 못하겠지만, 머스크의 변호사들은 이 메모의 의도를 실현하기 위해 최선을 다했습니다. 그들은 알트만과 브록만이 '자선 단체를 훔쳤다'고 법원에 보여주려 하고, 반면 OpenAI 법률팀은 머스크 역시 정확히 같은 계획을 가지고 있었음을 보여주려 노력하고 있습니다.
이 모든 사건을 촉발한 계기는 OpenAI의 모델이 비디오 게임인 '도타 2(DOTA II)'에서 최고 수준의 인간 플레이어를 물리친 사건이었습니다. 브록만은 이 사건이 조직 내 모든 사람이 강력한 AI 도구를 만드는 데 컴퓨팅 파워(Compute)가 핵심 자원이라는 것을 확신하게 만들었지만, 순수 비영리 단체로서의 자금 모금만으로는 불충분할 것이라고 판단했다고 전했습니다. 이로 인해 영리 자회사에 대한 논의가 시작되었고, 머스크는 적어도 초기 단계에서 그 영리 자회사에 대한 '명백한(unquivocal)' 통제권을 원했습니다.
In late August 2017, key figures at OpenAI (then a small non-profit research lab) gathered to discuss how they would create a for-profit to commercialize its technology and raise the funds needed to realize AGI. Elon Musk was demanding full control of the company and had just given each of his cofounders a Tesla Model 3. CTO Greg Brockman said he saw that as way of buttering them up at a time when Musk and Sam Altman were vying to win support for their respective visions of the company's future. OpenAI's head of research, Ilya Sutskever, had commissioned of a painting of a Tesla to give Musk during the meeting as a friendly gesture. The conversation didn't follow that mood: When Musk was told the others would not accede to his demand for control of the company, Brockman said he got angry and upset. He sat for several minutes thinking quietly. Then, in Brockman's telling, Musk said, "I decline." The SpaceX and Tesla founder "stood up and stormed around the table…I thought he was going to hit me. He grabbed the painting and started to storm out of the room. And then he turned around and said, ‘When will you be departing OpenAI?'" Brockman and Sutskever didn't leave or commit to Musk's vision. Musk stopped his regular donations to the company's operating budget, and within six months, he would leave the board, though he paid for office space the company shared with Neuralink until 2020. As today's legal battle over the future of OpenAI proceeds, scrutiny has settled on a key period in 2017 when the the organization's original cofounders disagreed about who would control its future, eventually bringing us Musk's lawsuit against his cofounders. We have yet to hear from Sam Altman, but OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified for two days, often referencing a personal journal that offers a rare insight into what's like to be a 30 year-old tech executive in a pitched battle with Elon Musk. Techcrunch event This Week Only: Buy one pass, get the second at 50% off Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register before May 8 to bring a +1 at half the cost. This Week Only: Buy one pass, get the second at 50% off Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register before May 8 to bring a +1 at half the cost. San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 REGISTER NOW "It's very painful," Brockman said of the publicity around the journal, which he called "deeply personal writings that there were never meant for the world to see. [But] there's nothing in there I'm ashamed of." Cutthroat negotiations between startup founders are rarely shared so publicly, especially when a company becomes as world-changing as OpenAI. We saw a recent taste this rancor when OpenAI's lawyers shared a text message Musk sent to Brockman two days before the trial began: “By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be.” The jury won't see that note, but they Musk's lawyers have done their best to realize its spirit. They are trying to show the court that Altman and Brockman "stole a charity," while OpenAI's legal team tries to show that Musk had the exact same plan in mind. The inciting incident for all of this was when an OpenAI model defeated the top human player in the video game DOTA II. Brockman said that convinced everyone in the organization that compute was the key resource to create powerful AI tools, but that fundraising purely as a non-profit would be insufficient. That led to talks about a for-profit subsidiary, of which Musk wanted "unequivocal" control, at least at the start. The other founders said proposed equal shares, and perhaps more more equity comensurate with a cash investment. Another idea on the table was somehow connecting OpenAI to Tesla's AI work. Shivon Zillis, an OpenAI advisor who acted as a go-between for Musk and the team there, said there were more than 20 variations on the plan. But when the other founders wouldn't give Musk control, their partnership unravelled. "It should not be the case that there exists one person with full and absolute control over OpenAI," Brockman testified. Brockman and Sutskever discussed a plan to kick Elon out off OpenAI's board in order to move forward, resulting in a November 2017 journal entries that Musk's lawyers have focused on. ‘[C]an't see us turning this into a for-profit without a very nasty fight," Brockman wrote. "[I'm] just thinking about the office and we're in the office. and his story will correctly be that we weren't honest with him in the end about still wanting to do the for profit just without him….btw another realization from this is that it'd be wrong to steal the non-profit from him. to convert to a b-corp without him. that'd be pretty morally bankrupt. and he's really not an idiot." That "steal the non-profit" line may seem damning, but the context, according to Brockman, was whether or not to try and toss Musk off the board. They ultimately did not do that. Musk left the board voluntarily in February 2018, concluding that "OpenAI is on a path of certain failure," saying he planned to focus more on AI at Tesla. Brockman described his reflections as an effort to determine whether he would be satisfied with his work life. "This is the only chance we have to get out from Elon," he wrote during the talks. "Is he the ‘glorious leader' that I would pick? We truly have a chance to make this happen. Financially what will take me to $1B?" That last reflection was also seized on by Musk's lawyers as a sign that Brockman was thinking more about his personal wealth than the non-profit's mission. Brockman said his current stake in the company is worth almost $30 billion, which became an opportunity for Steve Molo, the main trial attorney for Musk, to berate him. "Why you didn't take the $29 billion more than the billion you said you would be good with, and donate that to the charity?" Molo demanded. "Look at what we accomplished," Brockman replied. "The OpenAI non-profit has over $150 billion of OpenAI equity value. That is something we have built through hard blood sweat and tears, all this time since Elon has left." Molo also dwelt on emails from where Brockman said he will donate $100,000 to OpenAI, something he never did. Ironically, Brockman might be best known to the public for making the largest donation of the 2025 political cycle, $25 million given to MAGA Inc., a SuperPAC supporting President Donald Trump, but that didn't come up in the trial. Molo did mock Brockman's description of the charged meeting around his control of the company as Musk being "mean" to Brockman, and suggested that Brockman didn't understand the governance issues the way Musk, a serial founder, did. Brockman, though, said Musk didn't understand AI. "He did not and does not know AI," he testified, describing Musk dismissing an early demonstration of the software that would become ChatGPT. "We did not think he was going to spend the time required to actually get good at it." "The fact that Elon saw this very early version of the research, that really set all these things in motion, [and] didn't recognize that spark—that was exactly the kind of thing that was critical to avoid happening in this environment," Brockman said. In 2019, OpenAI would create a for-profit and use it to raise $1 billion from Microsoft. The company would raise $14 billion from the software giant over the next four years, fueling its rise as the leading AI frontier lab. It also fueled the net worth of the company's executives and employees, as well as the ass