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Private texts and emails of related parties submitted to court due to lawsuit between two giants
With the trial between Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, just a week away, private records revealing their true colors have been disclosed.
The U.S. daily Washington Post (WP) reported on the 23rd (local time) that embarrassing materials such as text messages, emails, and diaries of high-ranking Silicon Valley figures, including Musk and Altman, were submitted to the court in connection with the lawsuit between them.
Among these was a text message from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, contacting Musk to offer help.
Zuckerberg contacted Musk directly in February last year, saying, "It seems the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is making progress. I told my team to be vigilant to remove content that doxxes or threatens your team members."
He added, "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
At the time, as the Department of Government Efficiency carried out large-scale layoffs of federal employees, critical public opinion intensified, and the names of DOGE employees were disclosed to the media. Musk, who led DOGE, had strongly criticized this.
It is pointed out that it was inappropriate for Zuckerberg to send such a message, given that Facebook and Instagram have long promised users more freedom regarding content.
Another submitted document confirmed that Altman also sent a text message to Musk calling him "my hero," and even sought advice from others on whether he should post a tweet praising him.
It was also revealed that Musk disdained Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Emails exchanged between Musk and Altman in 2016 show that Musk preferred collaborating with Microsoft over Amazon, stating that Bezos was "a bit of a dork," and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, was not.
OpenAI later formed a partnership utilizing Microsoft's cloud computing services and received a $1 billion investment.
It was also alleged that Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive who gave birth to four of Musk's children through in vitro fertilization, acted as a spy, providing information about OpenAI.
Zilis sent a text message to Musk asking for guidance, saying, "Do you want me to maintain a close and friendly relationship with OpenAI so I can continue to receive (information), or do you want me to cut ties?"
Zilis saved Musk's name as 'Schrödinger's Cat'.
As various private materials have been submitted as evidence, there are observations that the lawsuit between Musk and Altman will become a mud-slinging fight.
Andrew Stoltmann, a corporate litigation attorney, told the WP that a fiery legal battle is expected in court, predicting, "Things are going to get messy and ugly."
Musk participated as a co-founder of OpenAI but left the board in 2018.
He filed a lawsuit, claiming that OpenAI violated its non-profit promise and pursued profit, thereby gaining unjust enrichment, and recently demanded the dismissal of Altman and President Greg Brockman through an amended statement of claim.
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