The big sticking point for Brockman and Sutskever was control.

All of the updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s battle over OpenAI They didn’t want Musk — or anyone — to have control over OpenAI. “You and I can argue that’s stupid all we want but they are holding firm on it,” Zilis says in an email to Jared Birchall in September 2017. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. A free daily digest of the news that matters most. The Verge is a part of PMX Global, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Media Corporation. © 2026 VM Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. Sign in to see your notifications or create an account to join the conversation.