This feels like super pointless speculation because unless you were there in the room there's no way to know what Elon did or did not contribute to the founding

This feels like super pointless speculation because unless you were there in the room there's no way to know what Elon did or did not contribute to the founding. Elon was on stage when they announced OpenAI in 2015. He was co-chair with Sam. They presumably both worked to get the founding team in place. The idea of OpenAI was both of theirs. He likely put up more than $100 million for its founding. Elon wasn't "on the team" any more than Sam at the start. But no one questions whether Sam is a founder.