머스크 대 오픈AI 재판 첫 주 일정이 마무리되며, 오픈AI 초기 핵심 이사이자 머스크의 연인인 시본 질리스의 역할이 조명받고 있습니다. 그녀는 머스크가 이사회를 떠난 후에도 비밀 연락책으로서 영향력을 행사하며 주요 인력 영입과 지분 분배 등 회사의 주요 결정에 개입했습니다. 오픈AI 측 변호인단은 질리스가 머스크의 통제권 장악 시도에 어떤 역할을 했는지 핵심 증거로 삼고 있습니다.
번역된 본문
일론 머스크의 오픈AI 제소 사건(Musk v. Altman) 재판 첫 주가 마무리되는 가운데, 오픈AI 초기 시절 커뮤니케이션과 이해관계를 조율했던 핵심 배후 인물로 시본 질리스(Shivon Zilis)가 부상했다. 머스크의 오랜 직원이자 그의 아이 넷의 엄마인 질리스는 2016년 자문위원으로 처음 오픈AI에 합류했다. 이후 2020년부터 2023년까지 비영리 이사회 이사를 역력했으며, 머스크의 다른 회사인 뉴럴링크(Neuralink)와 테슬라(Tesla)에서도 경영진으로 일했다.
법정에서 머스크와 질리스의 관계에 대해 묻는 질문에 머스크는 여러 가지 답변을 내놓았다. 어떤 순간에는 그녀를 '비서실장(chief of staff)'이라고 불렀고, 나중에는 '가까운 자문(close advisor)'이라고 했다. 또 다른 순간에는 "우리는 같이 살고 있고 그녀는 내 아이 넷의 엄마이다"라고 말했지만, 질리스는 증언에서 머스크는 자신의 거주지를 따로 유지하며 자주 방문하는 게스트에 더 가깝다고 밝혔다. 작년 9월, 질리스는 오픈AI 측 변호사들에게 자신이 오픈AI의 비공식 자문을 맡은 후인 2016년경부터 머스크와 연인 관계로 발전했다고 말했다. 그녀는 첫 아이 둘을 2021년에 낳았다고 덧붙였다.
그러나 오픈AI 측 변호인단은 증인 증언과 증거를 통해, 이 소송과 관련해 그녀의 가장 중요한 역할은 머스크가 2018년 2월 비영리 이사회를 떠난 후에도 수년 동안 오픈AI와 머스크 사이의 비밀 연락책 역할을 한 것이라고 주장했다. 오픈AI가 그의 퇴진을 발표하기 며칠 전인 2018년 2월 16일, 질리스는 머스크에게 보낸 문자 메시지에서 "정보가 계속 흘러가도록 오픈AI와 우호적인 관계를 유지하는 것을 선호하시겠습니까, 아니면 관계를 끊기 시작할까요? 신뢰 게임이 까다로워질 것이라, 어떻게 하는 것이 당신에게 이로운지 조언을 구합니다"라고 썼다. 머스크는 "우호적인 관계를 유지하되, 테슬라로 오픈AI 직원 3~4명을 적극적으로 데려오려 할 것이다. 시간이 지나면 더 많은 인력이 합류하겠지만, 우리가 능동적으로 영입하지는 않을 것이다"라고 답했다. 증인석에서 이 대화에 대해 묻자 머스크는 자신이 "무슨 일이 일어나고 있는지 알고 싶었다"고 말했다.
같은 문자 대화에서 머스크는 "내가 테슬라 AI에 집중한다면, 오픈AI가 중요한 세력이 될 가능성은 거의 없다"고 말했다. 질리스는 이에 대해 "누군가 데미스(구글 딥마인드 리더)를 늦추지 않으면 좋은 미래가 될 확률은 매우 낮다"며, 머스크가 초지능 AI 시스템을 통제할 신뢰할 수 있는 인물이 아니라고 말한 그 딥마인드 수장을 지목했다. 그녀는 "당신이 그에게 직접 얼마나 영향력을 행사할 수 있는지, 혹은 어떻게 그를 늦출 수 있는지 깨닫지 못하고 있습니다. 나는 악의적인 사람이 아니라는 것을 알지만, 이번 경우에는 그의 길을 늦추거나 바꿀 방법을 찾지 않는 것이 근본적으로 무책임하게 느껴집니다"라고 덧붙였다.
약 두 달 후인 2018년 4월 23일 이메일에서, 질리스는 오픈AI의 자금 모금 노력과 비디오 게임을 할 수 있는 AI 개발 프로젝트의 진행 상황을 머스크에게 업데이트했다. 같은 메시지에서 그녀는 대부분의 시간을 오픈AI에서 뉴럴링크와 테슬라로 옮겼다고 말하면서도, "오픈AI 감독에 더 많은 시간을 할애하는 것을 원하시면 알려달라"고 그에게 말했다. 약 1년 전인 2017년 여름, 오픈AI의 공동 창립자들은 조직의 지배구조 변경 협상을 시작했고, 머스크는 초기에 회사에 대한 통제권을 원했다. 2017년 8월 28일 이메일에서 질리스는 머스크에게 새로운 회사에서 지분이 어떻게 분배될지 논의하기 위해 그렉 브록맨(Greg Brockman)과 일리야 수츠케버(Ilya Sutskever)를 만났다고 적었다. 그녀는 브록맨과 수츠케버가 범용인공지능(AGI)을 개발할 경우 한 사람이 그에 대한 독점적 권한을 가져서는 안 된다고 생각한다는 등 회의 내용을 요약했다. 이에 머스크는 질리스에게 "매우 짜증나는군. 그들에게 새 회사를 차리라고 권해주세요. 나는 충분히 겪었습니다"라고 답장했다.
협상은 가을까지 계속되었고, 질리스는 양측의 신뢰받는 조력자 역할을 계속했다. 수츠케버가 알트먼과 머스크에게 머스크가 오픈AI를 통제하도록 허용하는 것에 대한 그의 우려를 전달한 2017년 9월 20일짝 이메일 스레드에는 질리스가 참조(Cc)되어 있었다. 이틀 후, 질리스는 머스크에게 알트먼, 브록맨, 수츠케버와 그들이 유지하겠다고 다짐한
Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story As the first week of trial in Musk v. Altman comes to a close, one person has emerged as a critical behind-the-scenes manager of communications and egos in OpenAI’s early years : Shivon Zilis. A longtime employee of Musk and the mother to four of his children, Zilis first joined OpenAI as an advisor in 2016. She later served as a director of its nonprofit board from 2020 until 2023 and has also worked as an executive at Musk’s other companies, Neuralink and Tesla. When asked about the nature of his relationship with Zilis in court, Musk offered several answers. At one point, he called her a “chief of staff.” Later, a “close advisor.” At another point, he said “we live together and she’s the mother of four of my children,” though Zilis said in a deposition that Musk is more of a regular guest and maintains his own residence. Last September, Zilis told OpenAI’s attorneys that she became romantic with Musk around 2016 after she had become an informal advisor to OpenAI. They had their first two children in 2021, she said . But OpenAI’s lawyers have made the case in witness testimonies and evidence that her most important role, as it pertains to this lawsuit, is being a covert liaison between OpenAI and Musk, even years after he left the nonprofit’s board in February 2018. “Do you prefer I stay close and friendly to OpenAI to keep info flowing or begin to disassociate? Trust game is about to get tricky so any guidance for how to do right by you is appreciated,” Zilis wrote in a text message to Musk on February 16, 2018, days before OpenAI announced he was leaving the board. Musk responded, “Close and friendly, but we are going to actively try to move three or four people from OpenAI to Tesla. More than that will join over time, but we won’t actively recruit them.” When asked about this exchange on the witness stand, Musk said he “wanted to know what’s going on.” In the same text thread, Musk said “there is little chance of OpenAI being a serious force if I focus on Tesla AI.” Zilis reaffirmed him, saying: “There is very low probability of a good future if someone doesn’t slow Demis down,” referring to the leader of Google DeepMind, who Musk has said he didn’t trust to control a superintelligent AI system. “You don’t realize how much you have an ability to influence him directly or otherwise slow him down. I think you know I’m not a malicious person but in this case it feels fundamentally irresponsible to not find a way to slow or alter his path.” Roughly two months later, in an email from April 23, 2018, Zilis updated Musk on OpenAI’s fundraising efforts and progress on a project to develop an AI that could play video games. In the same message, she said she had reallocated most of her time away from OpenAI to his other companies, Neuralink and Tesla, but told him, “if you’d prefer I pull more hours back to OpenAI oversight please let me know.” Almost a year earlier, in the summer of 2017, OpenAI’s cofounders had started negotiating changes to the organization’s corporate structure—Musk wanted control of the company to start out. In an email from August 28, 2017, Zilis wrote to Musk that she had met with Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever to discuss how equity would be divided up in the new company. She summarized points from the meeting, including that Brockman and Sutskever thought one person shouldn’t have unilateral power over AGI, should they develop it. Musk wrote back to Zilis, “This is very annoying. Please encourage them to go start a company. I’ve had enough.” The negotiations continued into the fall, and Zilis continued acting as a trusted confidant for both sides. In a September 20, 2017 email thread in which Sutskever told Altman and Musk his reservations about allowing Musk to control OpenAI, Zilis is copied. Two days later, Zilis wrote to Musk that she had talked with Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever about their commitment to maintaining OpenAI’s nonprofit structure and recapped their perspectives on the matter. Around that time, Zilis also handled operations tasks, such as getting bids for security guards at the office building OpenAI shared with Neuralink, emails show. Once Musk officially left OpenAI’s board in February 2018, Zilis continued acting as a liaison between him and the organization’s leaders for years. On Wednesday, Musk testified that Zilis never shared any sensitive information about OpenAI with him that she was not authorized to disclose. While she was telling Musk about what was happening at OpenAI, Zilis was also giving Altman advice about managing his relationship with the Tesla CEO. On October 23, 2022, Altman received an angry text from Musk after he found out that OpenAI was raising new funding from Microsoft at a $20 billion valuation. Altman sent a screenshot of the text to Zilis, asking for advice about how to respond. “Call if you’d like additional context, but overall recommendation is don’t text back immediately,” Zilis said. On February 9, 2023, shortly after Musk had purchased Twitter, Altman texted Zilis again, this time asking, “good idea for me to tweet something nice about Elon?” Musk had just purchased Twitter. A few days later, Altman posted on X that “society underestimates how much it owes elon for raising the collective ambition level at a time when optimism for the future was receding.” This case has brought into focus the striking influence Zilis wielded in OpenAI’s early days, despite being relatively unknown outside of Silicon Valley. The 40-year-old began her career at IBM working on cognitive computing before becoming a founding member of Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital arm of Bloomberg. A former Yale hockey player, she was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list for venture capital in 2015, the year before she began advising OpenAI. Last Stand On Thursday, Musk used his likely last chance on the witness stand to implore the jury to concentrate on how Altman and other defendants allegedly fleeced him. He repeated a version of “you just can’t steal a charity,” at least five times. But the first week made clear that Musk didn’t impose any conditions when he donated about $38 million to OpenAI that would prevent it from restructuring into something closer to a for-profit business. He also waited years to file his lawsuit, despite having long expressed concerns that OpenAI was beginning to resemble a standard company. For Musk to get a favorable outcome, the jury and the judge will need to be convinced that he filed his lawsuit in a timely manner and that his donations created a legal promise that has been broken. Musk told the court that his concerns about OpenAI straying from its mission to do social good with AI escalated over time, and they finally began boiling over around 2023. “Only recently has it been obvious that the charity had been stolen,” he said Thursday. OpenAI’s attorneys questioned him about why his worries seemed to intensify the same year he founded his own AI lab, xAI , as a company rather than a nonprofit. He testified that xAI’s for-profit structure does pose some safety risks to society. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers appeared skeptical about the timing when she spoke to Musk’s attorneys before the jury arrived. “It is also ironic that your client, despite these risks, is creating a company that is in the exact space,” she said. “So I suspect that there are plenty of people who don’t want to put the future of humanity in Mr. Musk’s hands.” The trial has already demanded a significant amount of time from the executives involved. Musk was in the courtroom for roughly 20 hours this week, eating into the 80 to 100 he testified that he typically works. Altman spent roughly 14 hours in court, while OpenAI President Greg Brockman clocked roughly 16 hours. It’s unclear how much time they will spend watching the case going forward, but Brockman is expected to be testifying as soon as Monday. We’ll be bac