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Private messages and emails of related individuals submitted to court due to lawsuit between two magnates
As the trial between Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, approaches in a week, private records revealing their true colors have been disclosed.
The U.S. daily Washington Post (WP) reported on the 23rd (local time) that embarrassing materials such as text messages, emails, and diaries of high-ranking Silicon Valley figures, including Musk and Altman, were submitted to the court, triggered by the lawsuit between them.
Among these was a text message from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg contacting Musk to offer help.
Zuckerberg directly contacted Musk in February last year, saying, "It seems the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is making progress. I told our team to be vigilant to remove content that doxxes or threatens your team members."
He added, "Tell me if there's anything I can do to help."
At that time, as the DOGE carried out large-scale layoffs of federal employees, public criticism intensified, and the names of DOGE employees were revealed to the media. Musk, who was leading the DOGE, strongly criticized this.
It is pointed out that Zuckerberg's sending such a message is inappropriate, given that Facebook and Instagram have long promised users more freedom regarding content.
It was also confirmed in other submitted materials that Altman also messaged Musk calling him "my hero" and even sought advice from those around him on whether he should post a flattering tweet about him.
Details of Musk's disdain for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos were also revealed.
Emails exchanged between Musk and Altman in 2016 show Musk preferring to collaborate with Microsoft over Amazon, stating that Bezos was "a bit of a dork" and Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, was not.
OpenAI later formed a partnership using Microsoft's cloud computing services and received a $1 billion investment.
It was also claimed that Shivon Zilis, a Neuralink executive who bore four of Musk's children through in-vitro fertilization, acted as a spy, providing information about OpenAI.
Zilis sent a text to Musk asking for guidance, "Do you want me to stay close and friendly with OpenAI so I keep getting (information) flowed, or do you want me to cut ties?"
Zilis saved Musk's name as 'Schrödinger's Cat'.
As various private materials like these are submitted as evidence, it is anticipated that the lawsuit between Musk and Altman will become a mud-slinging battle.
Andrew Stoltmann, a corporate litigation attorney, told WP that a fierce legal battle is expected in court, predicting, "It's going to get messy and ugly."
Musk participated as a co-founder of OpenAI but left the board in 2018.
He filed a lawsuit, claiming that OpenAI breached its non-profit promise and pursued profit, thereby gaining unfair advantages, and recently, through an amended statement of claim, demanded the dismissal of Altman and President Greg Brockman.
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