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# Tesla's 2017 Plan to Launch Rival AI Lab, Newly Revealed
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/teslas-2017-plan-to-launch-rival-ai-lab-newly-revealed/
- Published: 2026-05-07T16:11:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-07T16:11:15.000Z
- Description: Internal messages between Shivon Zilis and Tesla leadership reveal a 2017 strategy to build a competing AI operation anchored by Sam Altman or Demis Hassabis. Had the plan succeeded, it would have altered the trajectory of both Tesla and OpenAI.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-consumer, attention economy, consumer behavior, trust

Source: [WIRED Daily](https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-recruit-sam-altman-tesla-ai-lab-trial?ref=adjacent.media)

Internal messages between Shivon Zilis and Tesla leadership reveal a 2017 strategy to build a competing AI operation anchored by Sam Altman or Demis Hassabis. Had the plan succeeded, it would have altered the trajectory of both Tesla and OpenAI. The disclosure reshapes the competitive history of the 2010s: rather than separate institutions pursuing distinct paths, internal power struggles and executive poaching attempts determined which organizations led AI development. It also shows that executive mobility and capital concentration—not just technical talent—decided AI leadership. Zilis and Tesla's pursuit of Hassabis or Altman suggests that access to specific individuals, not labs or methodologies, drove valuations and competitive advantage.