Greg Brockman, President of ChatGPT firm OpenAI, testified on Tuesday that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla (TSLA), once sought full control of the startup to help fund his plan to colonize Mars. Specifically, Musk allegedly needed about $80 billion to build a city on Mars and viewed controlling the firm as a way to raise it. The testimony came in the second week of Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in a courthouse in California.
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Trade TSLA with leverageMusk Pushed for Full Control and Leadership of OpenAI
In his second day of testimony, Brockman claimed that during a meeting in August 2017, Musk argued he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI because of his business track record. He also made clear he wanted to lead the firm, with Brockman adding that Altman was the only other candidate at the time.
Musk also allegedly said he alone would decide when to give up his control. However, the tone of the meeting shifted when they discussed a proposed equity setup that the Tesla CEO did not support. Brockman said Musk responded, “I decline,” and became very upset and stormed out of the meeting.
Musk then said he would hold back further funding until the issue was resolved. Moreover, Brockman noted that Musk also pushed for OpenAI’s change to a for-profit structure that same year. He noted that Musk’s reason was that a nonprofit couldn’t raise the scale of money needed to build advanced AI models.
How Musk’s Mars Dream Connects to the OpenAI Trial
Brockman’s testimony lines up with a real plan already in motion for Musk. In January 2026, the SpaceX board approved giving Musk 200 million super-voting shares if its market cap hits $7.5 trillion and he builds a Mars colony of at least 1 million people.
So, Musk’s push to use OpenAI as a funding tool for Mars may not have been an isolated idea. However, he ultimately left OpenAI’s board in February 2018, before the company took off.
Now, OpenAI says Musk is bitter about missing out on its success and wants control again. The firm also alleges that the lawsuit is partly a move to boost his own AI firm, xAI, which merged with SpaceX in February this year.
Is OpenAI Going to IPO?
OpenAI is eyeing a potential $1 trillion IPO in 2026, though no official date has been verified. However, the firm has begun informal talks with Wall Street banks and hired key finance executives to oversee investor relations. The move comes as OpenAI executives watch rival Anthropic, which is also targeting a late-2026 public debut. Meanwhile, SpaceX is aiming for a June listing and has already filed confidentially with U.S. regulators in April 2026.
