Zilis Testifies Musk Tried to Recruit Altman as OpenAI Trial Enters Week Two
SAN FRANCISCO — Shivon Zilis testified that Elon Musk tried to recruit Sam Altman away from OpenAI, a disclosure that emerged in the trial’s second week as OpenAI mounted its defense, MIT Technology Review reported.
Zilis, who has served as director of operations and special projects at Neuralink, testified that Musk made efforts to poach Altman from OpenAI. Musk’s lawsuit argues that Altman betrayed the organization’s original mission.
OpenAI responded to Musk’s lawsuit during the second week of proceedings. The case centers on OpenAI’s conversion from a nonprofit research lab to a for-profit entity, a restructuring that Musk has challenged as a betrayal of the organization’s founding principles.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and later departed the board, has argued that the company’s pivot to a capped-profit and eventually for-profit structure violated its charter and the commitments made to early donors. He has sought to block the conversion or secure compensation.
Altman and OpenAI have maintained that the structural changes were necessary to attract the billions of dollars in capital required to pursue artificial general intelligence safely, and that the transition includes provisions to preserve the nonprofit’s mission.
The trial has drawn attention from the AI industry, as its outcome could set precedents for how AI organizations structure themselves and manage fiduciary obligations to founding stakeholders. A ruling against OpenAI could force the company to reconsider its corporate restructuring.
The case is being closely watched by investors, rival AI labs, and policymakers who see the dispute as a bellwether for governance standards across the AI sector.
