There's no proof on either side. Just as likely to be ideological disputes from Helen and Ilya.

The had some equity after 2019.

Thrive was about to buy employee shares at a $86 bn valuation. The Information said that those units had 12x since 2021.

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/thrive-capital-to-le...

Not having money while everyone becomes filthy rich is also a money motivator.

They’ll all be filthy rich if they can keep doing this. Altman was already side-hussling to get funding for other AI companies.

Same with employees and their stock comp. Same with microsoft.