A few months before leaving OpenAI's board in 2018, Elon Musk tried to lure Sam Altman to Tesla with a board seat. Emails and testimonies reveal Musk’s plan to create a world-class AI lab within Tesla, even suggesting Altman could lead it.
The move comes as part of an ongoing legal battle between Musk and Altman over control of OpenAI. Musk claims that Altman and others effectively stole the nonprofit, while OpenAI counters with allegations about Musk’s subversive plans to absorb it into his company.
Documents show Zilis, a former adviser to both companies, discussed potential Tesla AI lab designs, including one where Altman could join the board. Despite these efforts, Altman never joined Tesla, and Zilis herself served on OpenAI’s board for years afterward.
Despite Musk’s claims that he was just trying to safeguard against Google's DeepMind, his overtures towards Altman suggest a more personal motive: control of one of the world's leading AI research teams. The future of AI innovation might depend on who wins this tech battle.
