OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is trying to force the mother of some of Elon Musk’s children to hand over private messages as part of his ongoing legal battle with the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive.
Altman, whose company operates ChatGPT, has asked a California judge to order Shivon Zilis to turn over texts and emails within 72 hours, Business Insider reported. Zilis is an executive at Musk’s brain-chip company Neuralink.
The request is part of Altman’s defense in a lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI and Altman. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but he left after clashing with Altman. He now alleges that the company has abandoned its founding promise to develop artificial intelligence “for the benefit of humanity” rather than for profit, pointing to its partnership with Microsoft.
Altman is hoping that texts from Zilis, the mother of four of Musk’s kids and another former OpenAI employee, will prove that Musk himself wanted to commercialize the company as far back as 2017.
“She was a conduit between Musk and OpenAI’s co-founders on matters central to this case, including discussions about a potential 2017 restructuring that would have given Musk a large equity stake in OpenAI,” Altman’s lawyers wrote.
Altman has also requested that U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hinton require Zilis and Musk’s right-hand man Jared Birchall to sit for additional depositions if they miss the deadline, on top of the ones already scheduled for later this month.
Hinton has not yet ruled on Altman’s request, but has given lawyers for the pair until Friday to file a status update to aid in his decision.
Musk’s legal team is opposing the motion, arguing that troves of texts and emails from Zilis and Birchall have already been provided.
“Birchall and Zilis should not be forced to sit for two depositions each,” they argued, according to Business Insider. “If their texts and emails cannot be produced in time, their depositions should be rescheduled.”
Musk, the world’s richest man, has a notoriously complicated family life and is believed to have fathered at least 14 children.
That includes the four he has with Zilis, including twins conceived via sperm donation, as well as three with musician Grimes. In February, MAGA influencer Ashley St. Clair claimed she had a secret love child with Musk, though he has not publicly acknowledged the child.
He also has six children with his ex-wife, Justine Wilson.
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