OAKLAND, Calif. – The president of OpenAI testified on Tuesday that Elon Musk supported transforming the artificial intelligence startup into a for-profit company, but wanted full control in part to help him raise $80 billion to colonize Mars.

Under questioning from an OpenAI lawyer, Greg Brockman said that in 2017 Musk wanted OpenAI to change its corporate structure because it was too hard for a nonprofit to raise the amount of money OpenAI required to build advanced AI models.

Brockman said the Tesla and SpaceX founder made clear that he wanted to become OpenAI’s leader if that happened.

Sam Altman, now OpenAI’s chief executive, was the only other candidate, Brockman said.

Brockman described a particularly intense meeting in which Musk said he deserved a majority stake in OpenAI because of his business experience. Musk said he intended to use that stake to build a self-sustaining city on Mars, according to Brockman.

“He said he needed $80 billion to create a city” on Mars, Brockman said.…