The chess game in Silicon Valley is far more dramatic than it appears. The newly disclosed court documents, like a lightning bolt, have revealed an unknown "Plan B" of OpenAI: just two years ago, after the shocking "court drama" that briefly led to Sam Altman's departure, OpenAI, which was in chaos, actually extended an olive branch to its fiercest rival - Anthropic, attempting to explore a merger that would shock the industry.

This explosive news comes from the testimony of Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI. It reveals how turbulent the internal situation was after Altman stepped down. Faced with major transformation pressures and restructuring needs, at this critical juncture of increasingly fierce competition in the AI industry, the merger negotiations between OpenAI and Anthropic became one of the most notable lifelines. It not only reflected OpenAI's urgent efforts to seek stability and growth, but also highlighted the extreme complexity of internal dynamics within the AI industry.

This failed merger negotiation was also shadowed by a huge conflict: the escalating legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI and its leader Altman. Musk, once an early supporter, had completely broken away from the company due to a fundamental disagreement on its direction, and the subsequent series of disputes made the future direction of OpenAI full of uncertainty. In such a context of internal and external challenges, the decision for OpenAI to initiate a merger clearly shows the anxiety and struggle of that time.

For OpenAI at that time, if it could successfully "join hands" with Anthropic, the merger of two giants with deep technical expertise and innovation capabilities in the AI field would undoubtedly build an unmatchable moat in terms of technology and the market. However, this grand vision ultimately did not materialize. Behind this, it may be that the two sides found it difficult to compromise on their most core strategic goals, or that deep-rooted cultural differences made this "marriage of the century" destined to face enormous difficulties from the beginning.

Now, as OpenAI gradually stabilizes its leadership structure and development strategy blueprint, the future race in the AI industry remains full of infinite possibilities. Although the secret merger talks with its competitor have long disappeared, OpenAI continues to accelerate the pace of technological innovation and market expansion, hoping to bring more surprises to the world in the future.