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Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI dismissed on statute of limitations grounds; Musk plans appeal.

After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The group found that two claims were barred by the statute of limitations, and a third failed thanks to the dismissal of one of these. The jury here is an advisory jury, meaning the group is installed solely to offer another opinion to the judge, and its verdict is technically not legally binding. Ultimately, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers is the ultimate legal authority - and she accepted the decision. The jury found that Musk's claim for breach of charita...

Elon Musk's claim that he was mistreated by his OpenAI cofounders failed after nine California jurors decided in a unanimous verdict that his lawsuits had been filed too late.

A big theme in the trial’s final days was whether OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is trustworthy.

In the final week of the Musk v. Altman trial, lawyers traded blows over Elon Musk’s and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s credibility. Altman was grilled on his alleged history of lying and self-dealing involving companies that do business with OpenAI. But he fired back, painting Musk as a power-seeker who wanted to control the development…

Sam Altman holds $2B+ in companies with OpenAI business ties; state AGs allege self-dealing in court filings.

Here's what the biggest tech court case of the year is all about.

Yesterday, in Musk v. Altman, before the jurors came in, Sam Altman's team passed up what looked - from a distance - like a little league trophy. It was not. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had the lawyers read the inscription aloud for the press: "Never stop being a jackass." It's a commemoration OpenAI employees bought for research scientist Josh Ackiam, who testified yesterday. How exactly did this come up in a trial about nonprofit contract law? Allegedly, when Elon Musk was leaving OpenAI, he talked about wanting to race ahead of Google. Achiam, who worked on AI safety, asked if that was really s...

"I believe I am an honest and trustworthy business person," Altman testified in federal court.

Sam Altman testifies in Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI over corporate structure and fiduciary duty claims.

Who, me? | Image: The Verge; Getty Images After two weeks of hearing from assorted witnesses that he was a lying snake, the jury finally heard from the lying snake himself: Sam Altman. At the end of the testimony, his lawyer William Savitt asked him how it felt to be accused of stealing a charity. "We created, through a ton of hard work, this extremely large charity, and I agree you can't steal it," Altman said. "Mr. Musk did try to kill it, I guess. Twice." Altman was fully in "nice kid from St. Louis" mode, and did a passable impression of a man who was bewildered at what was happening to h...

Musk v OpenAI trial features testimony from insiders characterizing Sam Altman's statements as dishonest.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says Elon Musk did "huge damage" to the culture of the AI startup. During testimony as part of Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman said Musk required OpenAI president Greg Brockman and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever to rank researchers by their accomplishments and "take a chainsaw through a bunch." Altman conceded that this was the management style the Tesla CEO was known for, but that it was incompatible with his startup. "I don't think Mr. Musk understood how to run a good research lab," Altman testified when his lawyer, William Savitt, asked about the impact ...

Sam Altman testifies that Elon Musk sought total control of OpenAI to pass to his heirs; governance dispute.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has begun his testimony against Elon Musk in a high-profile jury trial in a California federal courtroom. Altman, alongside OpenAI president Greg Brockman, is a primary defendant in the trial brought by Musk. Altman, Brockman, and Musk were all part of the initial founding team at OpenAI, with Musk investing up to $38 million in the ChatGPT-maker's early days. But the relationship between Musk and other OpenAI founders eventually soured, and Musk stepped away from the company, later going on to found his own direct competitor, xAI. In recent years, Musk and Altman have t...

Sam Altman mentions 'Goblin' as potential codename for OpenAI's next model in Reddit discussion; no official confirmation or technical details.

Sam Altman observes Gen Z/millennials using ChatGPT as life advisor; college students adopt it more extensively.

In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk’s motivations for bringing the suit were under scrutiny. Last week, Musk took the stand, alleging that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and president Greg Brockman had deceived him into donating $38 million to the company. He claimed that they’d promised to maintain…

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott. | Image: Getty Images When OpenAI was busy experimenting with AI-powered gaming bots, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were in the early days of forming an AI partnership. Court documents from the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial have provided a rare look at the communications between Microsoft's top executives about investing in OpenAI and fears the AI startup could "storm off to Amazon" and "shit-talk" Microsoft. Just days after OpenAI showed a bot beating a Dota 2 professional in the summer of 2017, Altman responded to N...

Sometimes, companies pick CEOs based on carefully laid succession plans designed to maximize investor confidence and future performance. Other times, apparently, companies pick CEOs based on a bunch of video calls while the current CEO is texting the former CEO about who the new CEO even is. Such was the story of The Blip, the days in 2024 when Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI. We knew that situation was chaotic; the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial is showing just how chaotic it really was. Verge subscribers, don't forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Vergecast wherever you get your podca...

The week leading up to Thanksgiving 2023 was the AI industry's biggest soap opera moment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his role at the ChatGPT-maker. The explanation? That Altman was "not consistently candid in his communications with the board." Now, via witness testimony and trial exhibits in Musk v. Altman, the public is getting a concrete look behind the scenes of that dramatic weekend for the first time, much of it centered on former CTO Mira Murati. It was a unique situation in that the rollercoaster of a power play - which seemed to change every hour - took place, in ...

Can Sam Altman—or any CEO—be trusted with super intelligence?

Unverified Reddit post claiming access to leaked private messages about Sam Altman's 2023 firing.

Barry Diller defended OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, while warning that AGI remains an unpredictable force needing guardrails.

Mira Murati, OpenAI's former CTO, has testified under oath that CEO Sam Altman lied to her about the safety standards for a new AI model. In a video deposition shown during the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial on Wednesday, Murati said Altman falsely stated that OpenAI's legal department determined a new AI model did not need to go through the company's deployment safety board. "As you understand it, was Mr. Altman telling the truth when he made that statement to you?" Murati was asked in the deposition. "No," Murati said. Murat said that during her tenure at OpenAI, Altman made her work more dif...

Reddit post thanking Sam Altman; lacks substantive content about AI development or products.

Reddit post recounts Sam Altman interview on talent retention at OpenAI during Meta's AI hiring competition.

Musk texted OpenAI's president and co-founder saying that he and CEO Sam Altman "will be the most hated men in America."

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. Two of the most powerful people in AI—Sam Altman and Elon Musk—began their face-off in court in Oakland, California, last week. Musk is suing OpenAI, alleging that the millions he spent to…