Musk laments being a ‘fool’ for funding OpenAI on day two of court testimony
After a dramatic first day of opening statements and testimony from Elon Musk in his case against Sam Altman and OpenAI, the trial continues on Wednesday with a cross examination of the Tesla CEO.Musk began his second day of testimony by repeating the accusation that Altman “stole a charity” and would endanger humanity with AI multiple times.OpenAI’s defense attorneys will have the chance to press the world’s richest man on his allegations.Peripheral to the legal showdown, the court was packed on Wednesday with a mix of media and eager young men who lined up before dawn to get a glimpse – and a picture – of Musk.Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers at one point threatened that if observers did not stop taking photos and videos, a violation of the court’s rules, she would shut down an overflow room for watching the proceedings.
Musk is accusing his OpenAI co-founders Altman and Greg Brockman of breaking the founding agreement of the company to build AI to benefit humanity, instead shifting the non-profit to a for-profit structure and unjustly enriching themselves along the way.He is seeking the removal of Altman and Brockman, the undoing of the for-profit structure and $134bn in damages, which he wants redistributed to OpenAI’s non-profit arm.OpenAI has rejected Musk’s claims as “motivated by jealousy”, stating that he was always aware of plans for the business and that he left OpenAI in 2018 only after a failed bid to take over.The company holds that what Musk describes as his $38m investment into the non-profit was actually a tax deductible donation, and does not entitle him to any say over the firm.OpenAI also emphasizes that it is still overseen by the original non-profit.
Musk’s lawyer, Steven Molo, called him to testify on Tuesday following opening statements from both sides.The billionaire began with a rehash of his career and rise to power, before getting into his version of how OpenAI was founded in 2015.Musk claimed that the company only existed because of an alarming conversation about artificial intelligence he had with Google co-founder Larry Page, which made him believe that he needed to build a counterpoint or Page would doom humanity.With Musk on the stand, his lawyers have tried to paint him as a tech pioneer who is deeply invested in helping humanity.As Molo started his line of questioning on Wednesday, he showed Musk emails from OpenAI engineers praising him for his tech knowledge.
He also showed him a document where Musk called OpenAI’s safety team “jackasses” and asked him what he meant.Musk said the “jackass” statement was a joke.“I don’t yell at people basically,” Musk said.“You occasionally have to use strong language to get people to change their course.”During his testimony, Musk said his concerns about OpenAI shifting from its non-profit status started around 2017.
He claimed that an email exchange with Altman at the time showed Musk questioning if Altman had gone back on his initial promises and that Musk suspected they “actually wanted to create a for-profit where they had the majority of control”.Musk called himself a “fool” for providing OpenAI funding to create a billion-dollar company.He testified that he cautiously continued funding OpenAI after this, paying its rent and sending $5m quarterly payments, because he received assurances from Altman that the company would remain a non-profit.Musk said he left OpenAI’s board because he was too busy with his other businesses, but that he had believed the company would remain a non-profit.Musk’s departure from the board is a point of contention in the case.
OpenAI says that Musk left following an attempt to take control of the company and proposing it merge with Tesla.OpenAI also argued Musk was aware of plans to create a for-profit and that its non-profit still technically oversees the business.Musk testified that it wasn’t until late 2022, around the time that ChatGPT was released, that he realized he’d been hoodwinked.“I lost trust in Altman, and I was really concerned they were trying to steal a charity, and it turned out to be true,” he said, one of the many times Musk repeated the accusation of the theft of a non-profit.The trial is being extremely closely watched in Silicon Valley as it pits two of the tech industry’s most powerful men against each other and promises to intensify their ongoing feud.
Altman and Musk have openly sniped at each other on social media in the leadup to the trial, causing Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to request that both parties keep their posts to a minimum.Investors and other AI companies are also keeping an eye on the trial because it threatens severe consequences for OpenAI.The company is seeking to go public on the US stock market later this year at around a $1tn valuation, and any changes to its leadership or corporate structure would threaten that IPO.The trial is taking place in an Oakland, California, federal court where a nine person jury will decide on Musk’s claims.If OpenAI is found liable, however, Judge Gonzalez Rogers will be the one to decide on any remedies.
The trial is expected to last around three weeks.
Antiquities dealer who exposed thefts at British Museum dies aged 61
The academic turned antiquities dealer who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum has died aged 61.Dr Ittai Gradel, from Denmark, alerted the British Museum and the police after he was able to buy dozens of museum artefacts on eBay over the course of several years.Gradel died of renal cancer days after receiving a rarely presented medal from the museum in recognition of what its director called his “very significant contribution”, according to the BBC.A police investigation is still ongoing, more than three years after the museum reported the thefts to Scotland Yard after pressure from Gradel. Before his death in a Danish hospice, Gradel – who would have been a key witness in any trial – told the BBC it was “a bit annoying” he wouldn’t live to see the resolution of the case
‘Protected for another century’: experts lift 15-tonne foremast from HMS Victory
There is only one correct way to extricate a 15-tonne wrought iron mast from one of the world’s most famous and beloved warships – very slowly, and with extreme care.Which is precisely how a 30-strong team led by shipwrights and riggers set about their task on Monday night into Tuesday morning when they lifted the foremast from HMS Victory as part of a £42m conservation project.A 750-tonne crane removed the 23-metre mast from the ship in an operation requiring power to lift the wrought iron structure but also a great deal of delicacy to make sure the fabric of the vessel was not harmed.In the coming days, as long as the wind does not get up, two more masts – the mizzen and bowsprit – will also be craned off Nelson’s 18th-century flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar and laid on a Portsmouth dockside ready for conservation work to begin.At daybreak on Tuesday, Patrizia Pierazzo, the deputy project director, hailed it as a “great start”
Having Spent Life Seeking by Kae Tempest review – painfully earnest tale of trauma and transition
Kae Tempest’s new novel is dedicated to “you”, the reader. It also comes with a plea: “Be gentle though.” But to whom or what should we be gentle? The book or the writer? Having Spent Life Seeking is Tempest’s second novel, arriving a decade after his first and following a period of considerable personal change, including gender transition. Perhaps inevitably, it is a book full of struggle and soul-searching. It is also painfully earnest: an enervating read with an exhausting intensity that neither relents nor resolves
The Primitives: ‘A reviewer said that Crash would finish the band. Then it was in Dumb and Dumber’
The Primitives formed in the summer of 1984 with a singer called Keiron, who brought me in to write songs. When he left, we pinned up an advert in Coventry library and Tracy, who I’d actually met before on a Youth Opportunity Programme, answered. At that point, we sounded more like the Birthday Party or the Gun Club, so I wrote three new songs – Through the Flowers, Across My Shoulder and Crash – to test a more pop direction. Crash was simple and noisy, with a basic guitar line that became the “Na na na” hook.It was in our live set, but we dropped it quite quickly
Arts funding gap in the north must be closed | Letters
It was pleasing to read about Labour’s commitment to the principle of access to art for “everyone” (Editorial, 17 April). Everyone seemingly in London, where a whopping £135m has been invested in the V&A East museum – the latest addition to the buzzing East Bank cultural quarter.When, I wonder, will this Arts Everywhere Fund arrive at what used to be the buzzing cultural centre of the Albert Docks in Liverpool, where the Tate has been closed for more than two years? Where the museum of slavery has closed its doors and where what was a buzzing arts area now looks neglected and abandoned.When will places in the north, such as the once-vibrant towns of Kendal, Barrow and Kirkby Lonsdale, be given the same large sums spent on venue after venue in London?All the towns mentioned above are, incidentally, desperately bidding for UK town of culture 2028 designation in the hope of winning some desperately needed cash to enhance their cultural sector and to bring to these long-neglected and once-thriving centres accessible places where people can share in the joy of music, theatre or heritage, as are enjoyed by our lucky communities in “once neglected areas of London”.Spread the joy, Lisa Nandy, and let’s all have a share in the investment
‘I wanted alcohol to take me to a place where I was not’: comedian John Robins on the moment he realised he had a drinking problem
For most of his life, John Robins assumed he got more out of alcohol than it took from him. Now he knows it was the other way round ‘I picked up the bottle of wine and drank straight out of it. I was seven’ Read an exclusive extract from his new memoirThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
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