Musk and OpenAIs lawyer share testy exchange | Latest Tech News
OAKLAND, Calif. — Elon Musk said he was a “fool” to trust Sam Altman with the future of OpenAI in his second day of testimony in the bombshell trial over the future of the artificial intelligence giant.
“I was a fool who provided them free funding to create a startup,” Musk told a packed federal courtroom in Oakland, Calif,. on Wednesday. “I gave them $38 million of essentially free funding to create what would become an $800 billion company.”
Musk — who had leveled accusations from the stand a day earlier that Altman had damaged a promise to construct OpenAI as a charitable group — sparred with OpenAI’s lawyer William Savitt during his cross examination on Wednesday.
OpenAI attorney William Savitt, AP
When he discovered the news that OpenAI had raised $10 billion from Microsoft in 2023, Musk said it finally grew to become clear to him that OpenAI had misplaced its approach. He ripped Altman over what he called “disingenuous” reassurances that OpenAI would stay a nonprofit.
“I texted Sam Altman, ‘What the hell is going on? This is a bait and switch,’” Musk said.
Musk later went on to inform the courtoom that his view of OpenAI has gone through three different phases, with the first being “Enthusiastic support” for OpenAI and it’s mission, adopted by “Growing skepticism” and finally “They’re looting a nonprofit.”
“We are currently in phase 3,” Musk said.
Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman have been seen in the court room throughout Wednesday’s testimony, listening intently and often passing notes.
Savitt, meanwhile, tried to pin down Musk about his early involvement with OpenAI — making a case that he supported plans to set up and grow OpenAI’s for-profit entity. In response, Musk hit back at the attorney’s yes-or-no line of questioning.
Elon Musk sparred with OpenAI attorney William Savitt on Wednesday in court. REUTERS
“The classic reason you can’t ask yes or no questions – Have you stopped beating your wife?” Musk said.
US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who is presiding over the trial, jumped in, saying, “No, we’re not going to go there” — eliciting titters from the courtroom.
Savitt also grilled Musk on a textual content exchange between Musk and then-board member Shivon Zilis just before Musk give up OpenAI’s board in 2018. Zilis, who has borne a number of of Musk’s youngsters, requested him whether or not she ought to keep “close and friendly” with OpenAI to “keep info flowing.”
“Close and friendly,” Musk replied, according to court paperwork. “But we are going to actively try to move three or four people from OpenAl to Tesla.”
Confronted about the back-and-forth with Zilis, Musk deadpanned: “Well. I did want to know what was going on in OpenAI.”
Elon Musk in an Oakland federal court. AP
Slavitt hammered Musk on what he said have been imprecise responses about discussions during OpenAI’s early years about creating for revenue wing. “You don’t remember whether you were open to OpenAI having a for-profit venture in the summer of 2017,” Savitt said.
Rogers said to Musk: “It’s a yes or no question.”
Musk: “I don’t think that’s a yes or no question.”
A visibly flustered Musk finally said that yes, he did have a recollection of having discussions about it.
Savitt also displayed an electronic mail where Musk invited people to a occasion in a “haunted mansion” that Musk had not too long ago purchased in or around San Francisco. “OpenAI should start moving toward a for profit immediately,” a occasion attendee said Musk said at the occasion in a small assembly about OpenAI’s future.
“Let’s all calm down,” Rogers said, urging Musk to tackle Savitt’s questions straight and for Savitt to keep the cross-examination shifting ahead.
Federal court in Oakland, Calif. United States District Court Northern District of California
Earlier in the day, Musk returned to the witness stand knocking his fellow co-founders including Altman for wanting the do-gooder image of working a charity while building a for-profit entity value many billions of {dollars}.
“They can’t have their cake and eat it too,” Musk said. “They can’t have the positive halo effect of a charity and enrich themselves greatly.”
Musk has accused OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman of duping him into pondering he was donating tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} toward launching a nonprofit to develop AI safely and for the benefit of humanity, only to flip it into a for-profit enterprise.
Prior to the trial, Musk unleashed a flurry of social media posts that slapped OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman with the moniker “fraud Altman.”
On Tuesday, Savitt slammed Musk’s legal agenda as a hypocritical “tale of two Elons” — calling it an attempt to throttle OpenAI after Musk launched his rival startup xAI.
Musk “will do anything he can to attack OpenAI,” Savitt said. “He didn’t start coming up with these arguments until he saw that OpenAI could make a lot of money.”
“What he cares about is Elon Musk being on top,” Savitt added. “Mr. Musk had fallen behind. He launched xAI and then he sued.”
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