The hottest new read of 2026 may well be The Secret Diary of Greg Brockman, Aged 38¾. It has everything: feuding billionaires, scheming CEOs, and a perhaps somewhat unreliable narrator. You will not find it in the library, but you can watch Brockman, a co-founder and president of OpenAI, being forced to read the juiciest bits out loud in court.
The Legal Battle Between Elon Musk and OpenAI
Before you ask ChatGPT to explain, here is the backstory: Elon Musk is in a legal battle with Brockman and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Musk, a former board member of OpenAI, accuses the men of violating the AI firm's founding agreement by turning it into a for-profit entity. Meanwhile, Altman and his team argue that Musk is simply upset he is no longer in control and wants to eliminate his competition.
Brockman's Diary Entries
Helpfully for Musk, Brockman kept a diary during the company's founding years, which has become central to the case. In one heavily cited extract, Brockman writes: “Financially what will take me to $1B?” Another scrutinized passage reads: “It’d be wrong to steal the non-profit from [Musk]. to convert to a b-corp without him. that’d be pretty morally bankrupt. and he’s really not an idiot.” While he may have been lusting after billions, his sentence structure suggests Brockman is ambivalent about capitalism – or at least capitals.
The Risks of Sharing Secrets with AI
Not a lot of people keep journals laying out potentially problematic corporate maneuvers. However, millions use tools like ChatGPT as a sort of therapist or digital confession box, sharing private or half-formed thoughts. “Within the next decade,” one lawyer told Axios, “the diary equivalent will be standard discovery in every major executive litigation in the country.”
This means you should not trust a chatbot with your secrets. As recent cases demonstrate – including one where a former NFL player allegedly asked ChatGPT for help after killing his girlfriend – conversations with AI are admissible in court. Even if you expect no legal trouble, be wary about sharing sensitive information: most chatbot conversations are not private, may be retained indefinitely, and could be shared with other humans. Your AI chatbot is not a shrink – it is a snitch.
