Brockman Testimony: Musk Sought "Absolute Control"

The Musk v. Altman trial entered its second week, with OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman taking the stand. Brockman testified that although Musk drove OpenAI's move toward a for-profit structure in the summer of 2017, he demanded an equity stake for himself, the right to appoint a majority of the board, and the CEO role.

Particularly striking was what happened when Brockman and Ilya Sutskever proposed that everyone receive equal equity. Musk said "I decline" and paced furiously around the table. Brockman recalled thinking that Musk might hit him. Musk then took a Tesla painting that Sutskever had brought with him and left the room.

Brockman told jurors, "The only thing we couldn't accept was giving him unilateral, absolute control over AGI."

Zilis Testimony: Musk Tried to Poach Altman

Shivon Zilis's testimony also brought significant new facts to light. Zilis testified that while Musk was still on OpenAI's board, he tried to recruit Sam Altman to lead a new AI lab inside Tesla.

It also emerged that Musk had asked Andrej Karpathy to draw up a list of top OpenAI talent to poach. In early 2018, Musk texted Zilis that if he focused on Tesla AI, OpenAI was unlikely to become a real force — a sign of where he stood shortly before leaving OpenAI.

Musk's attorneys argued that Brockman's motive was greed, pointing out that Brockman's equity stake has reached roughly $30 billion and that he has invested in companies that do business with OpenAI, including Cerebras and CoreWeave. Brockman pushed back, saying, "Solving the mission has always been my primary motive."

Ilya Sutskever and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are scheduled to testify next week, and further key testimony is expected.

DeepSeek Explores First Outside Funding at a $45B Valuation

Chinese AI company DeepSeek is reportedly considering its first outside funding round at a $45 billion valuation. As the Chinese government steps up support for homegrown AI models, DeepSeek is looking to further sharpen its competitive edge with the new capital.

DeepSeek has been funded entirely by its parent company High-Flyer until now, so bringing in outside capital marks a turning point in its growth strategy. With the US-China AI race intensifying, a Chinese player securing capital at this scale is worth watching.

AI-Native Engineering Hiring — OpenRound Takes Aim at LeetCode-Style Assessments

OpenRound, launched on Hacker News as a "Show HN," is a platform for AI-driven engineering hiring assessments. In place of traditional LeetCode-style coding tests, it offers assessments in which candidates use AI to tackle real projects and solve problems.

The company argues that "coding tests measure who is good at passing interviews, not who is a great engineer." Its assessment design distinguishes engineers who work well in an AI environment from "vibecoders" who simply pass AI output along as-is. As AI becomes deeply embedded in development workflows, it's an interesting initiative that shows hiring processes are due for a rethink too.

The Economics of "AI and Jobs" in Zuckerberg's Remarks

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sparked debate by saying that AI won't take away jobs — if anything, it creates reasons to hire people. A Japanese article analyzing these remarks through the lens of the Jevons paradox has been drawing attention.

The Jevons paradox describes how technological progress that makes resource use more efficient can end up increasing total consumption. The argument goes that if AI drives down the cost of software development, demand for development will grow — and engineering employment along with it. It's a counterintuitive claim, but the economic logic is consistent. That said, short-term job displacement and shifts in the skills that are in demand still warrant attention.

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**Sources:**

[Musk v. Altman week 2 — MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/05/08/1137008/musk-v-altman-week-2-openai-fires-back-and-shivon-zilis-reveals-that-musk-tried-to-poach-sam-altman/)

[DeepSeek Seeks Funding at $45B Valuation — The AI Insider](https://theaiinsider.tech/2026/05/08/deepseek-seeks-first-outside-funding-at-45b-valuation-as-china-backs-homegrown-ai-rival/)

[Show HN: OpenRound — AI-native tech assessments](https://www.openround.ai/)

[AIは仕事を奪うのか？ジェヴォンズのパラドックス — Zenn](https://zenn.dev/bentenweb_fumi/articles/kaomziwqzgkk)