According to Business Insider, newly filed court documents reveal OpenAI CEO Sam Altman privately texted Shivon Zilis, one of Elon Musk’s closest confidantes, on February 9, 2023, asking whether he should post a complimentary message about Musk on X. Altman specifically wrote about wanting to acknowledge Musk’s early contributions to OpenAI and how “others look up to him” after Musk had complained about being excluded from a photo from OpenAI’s first day. Less than a week later on February 13, Altman posted on X that “society underestimates how much it owes elon for raising the collective ambition level.” The message was disclosed in Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI in federal court and appears as Exhibit 35 among dozens of emails and text threads submitted as evidence.
The calculated move
Here’s the thing about that seemingly spontaneous praise – it was anything but. Altman was basically running his PR strategy by Musk’s inner circle before pulling the trigger. The text to Zilis reads like someone carefully managing a volatile relationship rather than expressing genuine admiration. And let’s be real – when you’re asking the “Elon whisperer” for permission to say nice things, how authentic can it really be?
This wasn’t just about hurt feelings over a missed photo op either. The timing matters. By February 2023, Musk had been publicly trashing OpenAI’s commercial direction for months. He’d already launched his own AI company, xAI, and was actively positioning himself as the ethical alternative to what he saw as OpenAI’s betrayal of its nonprofit roots. Altman’s olive branch looks more like damage control than heartfelt sentiment.
A long history of tension
The court filings show this pattern goes way back. We’re talking about emails from 2016 where Musk was deeply involved in operations, warning that competitors were “playing the Super Bowl and we are playing the Puppy Bowl.” But by September 2017, he’d had enough – threatening to cut funding unless OpenAI committed to staying nonprofit. Altman’s response? “I remain enthusiastic about the non-profit structure!”
Sound familiar? It’s the same dynamic playing out six years later. Musk erupts, Altman placates. The only difference is the medium – from emails to texts to public tweets. But the underlying tension remains unchanged. These two tech titans have been dancing around this fundamental disagreement about AI’s future for nearly a decade.
Broader implications
What’s fascinating about this revelation isn’t just the personal drama – it’s what it says about how Silicon Valley’s power players operate. Behind every public statement, there’s often a private calculation. When you see tech CEOs praising each other on social media, how many of those messages were vetted by intermediaries first?
The timing of this disclosure couldn’t be more awkward for Altman either. It lands right in the middle of an active lawsuit where Musk is accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding mission. Now we learn that Altman’s public defense included carefully orchestrated flattery. Does that undermine his credibility? Probably. But in the high-stakes world of AI, where partnerships and rivalries shift daily, maybe this is just business as usual.
Ultimately, this text exchange gives us a rare peek behind the curtain at how tech’s most influential figures manage their relationships. And honestly? It looks exhausting. The constant balancing act between personal history, business interests, and public perception – all playing out 280 characters at a time.
