Zilis Testifies Musk Offered Altman Tesla Board Seat During OpenAI Talks
SAN FRANCISCO — Shivon Zilis testified Wednesday that Elon Musk offered OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman a seat on Tesla’s board during discussions about merging the AI startup with his electric vehicle company, according to CNBC.
Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and mother of four of Musk’s children, told the court that Musk wanted OpenAI to join Tesla, with the board seat offer serving as an inducement in those talks, CNBC reported. The testimony adds a previously undisclosed detail to the negotiations between Musk and Altman that preceded their public falling out.
The disclosure came during the ongoing federal trial over OpenAI’s planned transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity. Musk is suing OpenAI’s current leadership, alleging the organization’s shift toward commercial interests represents a betrayal of its founding nonprofit mission to develop artificial intelligence safely for the benefit of humanity. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before departing its board in 2018.
OpenAI has countered that its evolving corporate structure is necessary to attract the capital required to pursue its mission and that adequate governance safeguards remain in place.
AI Safety Concerns Take Center Stage
Broader worries about AI’s risks to humanity have loomed over the proceedings, as reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The case has become a forum for competing visions of how powerful AI systems should be governed and who bears responsibility for ensuring their safe development.
Musk has argued that OpenAI’s pivot toward commercial interests — including a multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft — undermines the safety-first principles that guided its creation.
Implications for AI Governance
The trial raises questions about accountability in AI development, particularly as nonprofits in the space face pressure to compete with heavily capitalized for-profit rivals.
Zilis’s testimony — from a witness with ties to both sides of the dispute — added personal dimension to a case involving some of the AI industry’s most prominent figures.
The trial is ongoing.
