Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI includes testimony from Shivon Zilis about corporate discussions

May 7, 2026

AI Summary

The trial in Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman continues, with testimony from Shivon Zilis, who discussed Musk's involvement in OpenAI's corporate structure. Musk alleges that OpenAI deviated from its nonprofit mission after he left the company in 2018.

The trial regarding Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in its second week. Musk's lawsuit claims that OpenAI, co-founded by Musk, Altman, and Greg Brockman, has strayed from its nonprofit mission after Musk's departure in 2018.
Witness Shivon Zilis, who has four children with Musk, testified about discussions among the executives regarding OpenAI's corporate structure in 2017 and 2018. She mentioned that Musk offered Altman a board seat at Tesla during these discussions.
Zilis served as a liaison between Musk, Altman, Brockman, and Ilya Sutskever and testified that there were extensive discussions about various for-profit structures for OpenAI.
Musk expressed concerns that OpenAI's for-profit arm became dominant and accused Altman and Brockman of attempting to misappropriate a charity. He also considered establishing a competing AI lab within Tesla, which did not come to fruition.
In 2023, Musk founded a competing AI company, xAI, which was merged with SpaceX. Zilis served on OpenAI's board from 2020 to 2023 and resigned after Musk's decision to start xAI.

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Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI includes testimony from Shivon Zilis about corporate discussions

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