Elon Musk’s Last-Ditch Effort to Control OpenAI: Recruit Sam Altman to Tesla
New evidence shows Musk offered Altman a Tesla board seat to seize control.
In the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial, new evidence presented Wednesday reveals Elon Musk's attempts to absorb OpenAI into Tesla. Emails and testimony from Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI adviser, show that in November 2017, Musk planned a launch event at the NeurIPS AI conference to announce Tesla's own 'world leading AI lab' that would rival Google DeepMind and Facebook AI Research. A drafted FAQ listed Sam Altman (with question marks) alongside Musk and Andrej Karpathy as leaders. Musk even offered Altman a Tesla board seat in early 2018 to secure his commitment. However, Altman never joined, and the Tesla AI lab never materialized.
Further evidence shows Musk personally recruited Karpathy from OpenAI, contradicting earlier testimony that Karpathy left voluntarily. Zilis's text messages celebrated Karpathy's hiring, noting that OpenAI's cofounders were unaware. OpenAI's legal team used this to argue that Musk tried to 'corrupt' the nonprofit by luring away key talent and attempting to merge it with Tesla. The $38 million Musk initially invested in OpenAI now underpins a for-profit company worth over $800 billion. Musk's lawsuit claims Altman and Brockman stole the nonprofit, but OpenAI counters that Musk's real motive was sour grapes after failing to gain control in 2017.
- Musk offered Sam Altman a Tesla board seat in early 2018 to join a planned 'world-class AI lab' at Tesla.
- Emails show Musk planned a NeurIPS 2017 event to announce Tesla's AI lab, which would directly compete with OpenAI and DeepMind.
- OpenAI's lawyers argue the evidence proves Musk tried to corrupt and absorb OpenAI after failing to take it over in 2017.
Why It Matters
Reveals the intense corporate rivalry and legal battle over AI's future, with billions at stake.