Eight years ago, Elon Musk thought about putting Sam Altman on Tesla's board. Now they're suing each other.
That's the strange picture jurors got Wednesday at the Musk vs. Altman trial in Oakland.
Shivon Zilis is a former OpenAI board member who is close to Musk. She told the court that a Tesla seat for Altman "was on the table" in late 2017.
That was when both men were still trying to fund OpenAI.
OpenAI was burning cash at the time. The nonprofit needed huge compute power to keep up with Google and Facebook.
A Tesla board seat would have pulled Altman closer to Musk's orbit. That's right when a money decision had to be made.
Zilis said the option was floated as one way to lock in the deal before things broke.
It never happened. The team cracked within months, Musk left the OpenAI board, and Altman built the firm into the most valuable AI startup on the planet.
OpenAI is now worth $852 billion. It closed a $122 billion fund round in March.
Today, Musk runs his own AI firm, xAI. He says OpenAI broke its early pledge to stay nonprofit. Altman says Musk wanted full control and walked when he didn't get it.
The trial is about money and direction. Musk wants the court to block OpenAI from finishing its switch to a for-profit firm.
OpenAI says it needs the switch to keep raising the cash AI takes.
The Tesla seat detail matters because it shows how tight the two men were before the split.
Both Musk and Altman testified in week one. Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president, took the stand earlier this week.
He described what he called a power fight with Musk. He even said he once feared Musk might hit him in a meeting.
Legal watchers think Musk's odds are slim. The case rests on whether Musk relied on a pledge that OpenAI would stay nonprofit.
That's hard to prove with no signed deal.
Tesla (TSLA) shareholders care because every hour Musk spends in court is an hour off Tesla, xAI, or SpaceX.
The trial could run another two to three weeks. Musk is also juggling Tesla's robotaxi launch and xAI's funding push.
OpenAI investors care too. A loss could complicate fresh funding rounds.
The startup has been raising money at higher and higher values. Any legal cloud could change those terms.
Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest backer, is watching the case closely.
Closing arguments are set for late May. The jury could clear OpenAI to keep moving toward its for-profit shift, or it could put the switch on hold.
Either way, the bond that almost put Altman on Tesla's board is now the most expensive feud in tech.
For Tesla shareholders, the case also raises questions about Musk's bandwidth. He runs five major firms, all in fast-moving fields. Each one wants more of his time.
For the AI sector at large, the trial is a stress test. It will show how nonprofit AI labs can switch to for-profit. The ruling could shape future deals in the space.
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