Day Four of the civil trial involving Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman commenced on Thursday, featuring Musk on the witness stand. This high-profile case raises important questions about the relationship between Musk and OpenAI, a company he co-founded.
Musk faced intense questioning from William Savitt, the lead lawyer for OpenAI, along with brief inquiries from Microsoft’s attorney, as Microsoft backs OpenAI in this case. Jared Birchall, Musk’s business manager, was called as the next witness by Musk’s legal team.
During his testimony, Musk stated that his company xAI poses no threat to OpenAI. He characterised xAI as “the smallest” company among its competitors, ranking OpenAI second in size after Anthropic and followed by Google. Musk claimed that xAI is about one-tenth the size of OpenAI.
Musk’s efforts to bolster xAI have included a merger with SpaceX and a $60 billion acquisition deal with the AI coding startup Cursor. Furthermore, Musk has indicated that he does not wish to create a “robot army” and distanced himself from ideas suggesting a potential AI-related disaster.
Birchall testified that Musk donated $38 million to OpenAI, alleging that these funds were misused. Savitt questioned whether Musk had provided specific instructions for these donations. Birchall clarified that there was a general understanding among OpenAI’s founding members regarding the intended use of the funds.
Looking ahead, the trial will pause on Friday, with the jury expected to hear from Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, next week. Brockman’s testimony is anticipated to be crucial, as it may reveal insights into Musk’s departure from OpenAI in 2018.
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