⚡️ Musk wanted OpenAI control

May 11, 2026

1:02

Here's a surprising twist — according to Arturo Ferreira at AI, Elon Musk’s real goal with OpenAI wasn’t just about innovation. It was control. Ferreira shares that Musk pushed hard for a say in how OpenAI was run, even demanding 'unequivocal' authority back in 2017. When the founders resisted, Musk stormed out, grabbing a painting, and now he's trying to claim $150 billion in damages. But here's where it gets interesting: Musk’s play wasn’t only about OpenAI — he’s leasing SpaceX’s massive supercomputer to AI labs like Anthropic for $3 billion a year, with clauses to ‘reclaim compute’ if AI becomes a threat. According to Ferreira, Musk’s moves suggest he's aiming to dominate AI infrastructure and influence the future of AI governance. So, what does this mean? The clear takeaway is that control and power in AI are becoming as crucial as the tech itself — and Musk is playing to win.

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AI didn't take the weekend off. Neither did we. Here's every move that mattered last week: top stories, both pods, and tools for you before you’ve had your second coffee. Five minutes. Done.

📰 Catch Up On Your Reading

GPT-5.5 cuts hallucinations by 52% in high-stakes domains OpenAI replaced GPT-5.3 with GPT-5.5 Instant as ChatGPT's default model, slashing factual errors by 37% and adding memory sources for transparency. → Read the full issue

Musk leases SpaceX's 220K-GPU supercomputer to Anthropic for $3B annually Three months after calling them "evil," Musk rents Colossus 1 to the AI lab weeks before SpaceX's $1.75T IPO, with a clause to "reclaim compute" if AI "harms humanity." → Read the full issue

Blackstone, Goldman Sachs back new Anthropic enterprise AI firm The consortium will deploy Claude across mid-sized companies lacking AI resources, with Anthropic engineers building custom solutions from healthcare docs to compliance workflows. → Read the full issue

Pentagon signs classified AI deals with eight tech giants, bars Anthropic SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS now deploy AI on classified military networks while Anthropic remains excluded over guardrail disputes. → Read the full issue

Brockman testifies Musk demanded "unequivocal" OpenAI control, then stormed out In trial testimony, Brockman revealed Musk grabbed a painting and left after founders rejected his 2017 control demand; Musk now seeks $150B in damages. → Read the full issue

The AI Executive's Pass drops May 12

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🎙️ Last Week's Podcasts

⚡ Anthropic Just Passed OpenAI — For the first time, Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in revenue, Google inks a classified Pentagon deal before writing a $40B check to its rival, OpenAI sets expiration dates on custom GPTs. → Watch on YouTube

⚡️ 22K to 210K in One Year — Charlie Hills breaks down how he grew to 210K LinkedIn followers in 12 months by reverse-engineering viral content, building infographics with Claude Code, and launching his own SaaS inside Claude. → Watch on YouTube

🚀 From The AI Report

Ready to go from AI consumer to AI operator? The AI Leaders Launch Guide gives you a 16-lesson implementation roadmap, HubSpot AI playbooks, and 5 custom GPTs — everything you need to run AI transformation inside your company. → Grab it here for $27

Upscaile — Enterprise AI Training for Teams Need to upskill your whole team, not just yourself? Upscaile is our B2B training platform built for business leaders who want real AI adoption, not just awareness. → Learn more at upscaile.com

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