Who Owns the Future of AI?
Plus, what to look for in a used EV, Anthropic’s AI lead, the Cerebras IPO, the OpenAI lottery tickets and the most AI-proof jobs in tech
Both sides gave it their best shot. Now it’s up to a jury—and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers—to determine a winner in the titanic fight between AI kingpins Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
The world’s richest man jetted off to China as President Trump’s restored “First Buddy” while the third and final week of his trial against OpenAI and cofounder Altman played out in an intense fourth-floor courtroom in Oakland, Calif. There, the diminutive Altman testified, against one Musk lawyer’s portrayal, that he was not in fact a liar.
The billionaire also defended converting OpenAI from a nonprofit to a commercial entity—a move that sparked the lawsuit by Musk, a onetime major donor, alleging breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment—as essential for continued growth.
Altman skipped the final day of testimony Wednesday, missing a welcome comedic break when the judge kicked things off with a lawyerly debate on whether to admit one of the most talked-about items in Silicon Valley: a trophy of a golden donkey’s hind quarters, awarded to an OpenAI intern after Musk called him a “jackass” during an argument over safety. (The intern is now OpenAI’s chief futurist.) Gonzalez Rogers held the statue with mock, or perhaps real, disgust.
After closing arguments Thursday, the next move is jury deliberations Monday.