Musk vs. Altman: Was the Mother to (4 of) Elon’s Kids an Unwitting Agent for OpenAI?
Their personal connection is intertwined with their professional closeness. Zilis, a Yale graduate who went from IBM to founding partner at Bloomberg Beta, entered Musk's orbit around 2016 as an informal advisor to OpenAI. She would go on to serve on the nonprofit's board until 2023—even as Musk recruited her to Tesla's Autopilot program and, later, to run operations at his brain-chip startup Neuralink. (Zilis did not respond to my request for comment ahead of her testimony.)The defense has often been using her communications with Musk throughout her time at OpenAI as load-bearing evidence. Zilis was once part of his lawsuit against Altman before later dropping out as the legal strategy changed.OpenAI’s lead attorney Bill Savitt has presented multiple email exchanges during the trial showing how she and Musk were actively discussing different arrangements with Altman and another OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman to change the company’s structure into a for-profit.In one email she sent to Musk, Zilis noted, among a list of updates, that Altman was preparing to raise money for an OpenAI subsidiary that would have a fixed maximum return. “Ok by me” Musk replied. It’s unclear what exactly was ok by Musk—there were other topics in the email. Altman’s side is implying that Musk’s response was a greenlight to the for-profit arm, or at least a lack of objection; Musk is saying it meant nothing in particular.In another email, Zilis walked Musk through an upcoming $500 million dollar funding round that was about to be led by corporations and high net worth individuals. “Altman will write you as soon as it’s more concrete.” she wrote.As presented by Altman’s side, Zilis’s emails paint a picture of Musk who, at one point, was quite open to reimagining OpenAI as a for-profit company. It’s a strong contrast to someone who would later accuse his other cofounders of “stealing a charity.”She was also his self-appointed liaison to the company he'd left behind. While cross examining Musk last Wednesday, Savitt brought up a text exchange between him and Zilis around the time he left the company’s board.“Do you prefer I stay close and friendly to OpenAI to keep info flowing or begin to disassociate?” Zilis texted Musk. “[The] Trust game is about to get tricky so any guidance for how to do right by you is appreciated.”“Close and friendly,” Musk texted back. “but we are going to actively try to move three or four people from OpenAI to Tesla. More than that will join over time, but we won't actively recruit them.”The other version of Zilis being quietly suggested is of a person who may have been used or manipulated by Altman to get at Musk. Texts submitted as evidence show that in February of 2023, Altman asked Zilis how to manage the public image of his relationship with Musk.
