Zilis Testimony Reveals Musk’s Tesla-OpenAI Merger Pitch

CNBC reported Thursday that a key witness at the Musk v. Altman federal trial revealed Elon Musk once proposed absorbing OpenAI entirely into Tesla. He sweetened the pitch by offering OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a seat on the electric vehicle company’s board of directors.

Zilis Takes the Stand in Oakland

Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who shares four children with Musk, delivered the testimony on Wednesday in Oakland, California. She described serving as a go-between for Musk, Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, and co-founder Ilya Sutskever during roughly 2017 and 2018.

Zilis told the court that OpenAI’s corporate structure was debated relentlessly during that period. Participants weighed numerous for-profit arrangements before eventually settling on nothing. “There were lots and lots of arguments about all of the different possible structures put in place at that time,” Zilis said, according to CNBC. The Tesla acquisition proposal was one option floated during those heated discussions.

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Background on the Lawsuit

Musk filed suit against OpenAI, Altman, and Brockman in 2024. His central allegation is that the pair abandoned commitments to keep the organization structured as a nonprofit with a charitable mission. Musk co-founded the company alongside them in 2015 before departing in 2018.

OpenAI subsequently created a for-profit subsidiary. That entity is the nucleus of the legal dispute. When Musk testified earlier in the trial, he acknowledged not opposing a commercial arm outright. He argued instead that profit motive ultimately hijacked the original mission, accusing Altman and Brockman of attempting to “steal a charity.”

Separately, Musk once considered building a rival AI lab inside Tesla itself. Zilis testified that idea never moved forward. He eventually launched independent AI company xAI in 2023, later merging it with SpaceX.

Personal Ties Add Complexity

Zilis also addressed her own layered relationship with Musk. She joined OpenAI as an informal advisor in 2016 and served on its board from 2020 to 2023. The couple kept their personal relationship and Musk’s paternity confidential, she said, partly citing the security risks attached to Musk’s public profile.

She disclosed his involvement to Altman only after learning media reports were imminent. OpenAI permitted her to retain the board seat at that point. She resigned in 2023 when Musk moved to establish xAI. The trial concludes its second week Thursday, with Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella potentially still to testify.

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