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Musk's Partner Zillis Testifies… Former OpenAI CTO Also Says "Altman Fostered Distrust and Confusion"
Testimony has emerged that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who filed a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI broke its non-profit promise and became for-profit, had previously proposed incorporating OpenAI as a subsidiary of Tesla.
Shivon Zillis, former OpenAI director and reportedly Musk's partner, testified to this effect at a trial held at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division, on the 6th (local time), according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Zillis testified, "At the time, a huge number of proposals regarding governance were pouring into OpenAI," and added, "Among them was Musk's suggestion that 'OpenAI become a subsidiary of Tesla'."
It was also reported that the proposal to recruit Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, as a director on Tesla's board was discussed during this process.
However, Musk's proposals were rejected by CEO Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, among others, and fell through.
Former director Zillis stated that Musk was concerned that Tesla would compete with OpenAI for engineering talent right before he left the OpenAI board in 2018, adding, "Musk even recruited OpenAI's top AI researcher to Tesla just days before stepping down from the board."
This testimony appears to contradict CEO Musk's lawsuit argument that 'OpenAI broke its non-profit promise and became a for-profit entity, thus deceiving him.'
OpenAI, for its part, claims that CEO Musk wanted a 'for-profit structure where he had control,' not a non-profit structure.
Former director Zillis also criticized the management style of Altman and Brockman, the two OpenAI executives.
She revealed that when OpenAI discussed a contract with the nuclear fusion startup 'Helion,' the two individuals who held significant shares in the startup participated in the discussion until the end, despite being accused of conflict of interest.
She also testified that the board expressed extreme concern at the time because there was no consultation with the board during the process of releasing ChatGPT.
Controversy also arose at the trial today regarding Zillis, who appeared as a witness. OpenAI criticized former director Zillis for having four of Musk's children but not informing the board of this fact until it was reported by the media in 2022.
In addition, a recorded testimony from Mira Murati, CEO of Thinking Machines Lab and former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of OpenAI, was screened in court today.
Murati criticized CEO Altman, saying he "told one person one thing and another person the complete opposite," implying he fostered distrust among executives.
She recalled that when CEO Altman was temporarily dismissed from the board in 2023, "the company was at catastrophic risk of being dissolved" and "I worried that the company would completely collapse."
In this lawsuit, CEO Musk is demanding the dismissal of CEO Altman and President Brockman and that the two return any unjust profits obtained from OpenAI to the non-profit OpenAI board.
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