Overview
- Former OpenAI director Shivon Zilis testified that in late 2017 Elon Musk sought to place Sam Altman on Tesla’s board and proposed making OpenAI a Tesla subsidiary with an in‑house AI lab.
- OpenAI lawyer William Savitt told reporters there is written evidence that Musk’s recruitment push aimed to bring OpenAI under Tesla’s control.
- Newly disclosed November 2023 messages show CTO Mira Murati telling Altman the OpenAI board had decided to remove him and install former Twitch chief Emmett Shear as interim CEO.
- The messages capture the pressure around the ouster, with Altman fearing “crazy lawsuits,” asking for rapid updates, and being told Microsoft was pressing for information.
- Other texts indicate leaders believed the board might shift OpenAI’s intellectual property to rival Anthropic and that the board wanted Altman kept away from work on artificial general intelligence.