Elon Musk’s Last-Ditch Effort to Control OpenAI: Recruit Sam Altman to Tesla
Newly surfaced internal communications from 2017 show Tesla and Shivon Zilis explored launching a competing AI research division, with overtures toward recruiting Sam Altman or Demis Hassabis to lead it. The revelation exposes Musk's long-standing strategic interest in controlling or neutralizing OpenAI's trajectory, predating public tensions by years. For the AI industry, this underscores how early-stage lab competition was shaped by founder ambitions and personal rivalries rather than pure technical merit, and hints at the fragmented leadership landscape that might have emerged had Tesla's recruitment succeeded. The timing and scope of these efforts suggest Musk viewed AI lab consolidation as existential to his broader vision.
Modelwire context
Analyst takeThe 2017 timeline matters more than the recruitment names: these communications predate Musk's public break with OpenAI by roughly a year, which means the adversarial posture now playing out in court was already being operationalized internally while Musk was still nominally a backer.
The trial coverage from early May, particularly WIRED's reporting on how Shivon Zilis operated as Musk's OpenAI insider, now reads differently in light of this. Zilis appears in both the 2017 recruitment effort and the trial evidence, suggesting her role as a bridge between Musk and OpenAI was not incidental but part of a longer strategic play. The MIT Technology Review trial coverage noted Musk's claim that he was misled from the start, and these documents complicate that framing: someone actively trying to poach OpenAI's potential leadership is not a passive donor who got duped. The two narratives, victimhood and competitive maneuvering, are difficult to hold simultaneously, and the court record now has material to test both.
Watch whether OpenAI's legal team introduces the 2017 Tesla recruitment communications as direct evidence against Musk's 'I was deceived' argument during remaining trial proceedings. If they do, and the judge allows it as relevant to intent, the victimhood narrative central to Musk's case becomes substantially harder to sustain.
Coverage we drew on
This analysis is generated by Modelwire’s editorial layer from our archive and the summary above. It is not a substitute for the original reporting. How we write it.
MentionsElon Musk · OpenAI · Tesla · Sam Altman · Demis Hassabis · Shivon Zilis
Modelwire Editorial
This synthesis and analysis was prepared by the Modelwire editorial team. We use advanced language models to read, ground, and connect the day’s most significant AI developments, providing original strategic context that helps practitioners and leaders stay ahead of the frontier.
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