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Musk v Altman et al: Difference between revisions
Add Trial Day 5: judge rebukes Toberoff
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| Active — bench trial with advisory jury underway (began April 27, 2026) | | Active — bench trial with advisory jury underway (began April 27, 2026). Day 3: Musk admits xAI "partly" distilled OpenAI models. Day 4: Judge pauses to probe Musk\'s $97.4B OpenAI bid (April 30, 2026) | ||
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OpenAI's position at trial is that Musk quit the company when he "didn't get his way" and that he never fulfilled his promised $1 billion contribution. Musk's position is that Altman and Brockman induced his donations by promising OpenAI would remain a nonprofit and that they then betrayed that commitment for personal financial gain. | OpenAI's position at trial is that Musk quit the company when he "didn't get his way" and that he never fulfilled his promised $1 billion contribution. Musk's position is that Altman and Brockman induced his donations by promising OpenAI would remain a nonprofit and that they then betrayed that commitment for personal financial gain. | ||
The trial is expected to last approximately four weeks. If Musk prevails on liability, a second phase will address remedies, which include Musk's request to block OpenAI's for-profit conversion. | The trial began April 27, 2026 and is expected to last approximately four weeks. If Musk prevails on liability, a second phase will address remedies, which include Musk's request to block OpenAI's for-profit conversion. | ||
== Significance == | == Significance == | ||
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* [[XAI Corp v Weiser]] | * [[XAI Corp v Weiser]] | ||
* [[XAI v Bonta]] | * [[XAI v Bonta]] | ||
== Trial Developments == | |||
=== Day 5 (May 1–2, 2026): Judge Rebukes Toberoff === | |||
No courtroom session was held on May 1, but the presiding judge sharply criticized Musk's lead attorney '''Marc Toberoff''' for eliciting "waste of time" trial testimony about Musk's $97.4 billion OpenAI acquisition bid. The judge admonished Toberoff that he "shouldn't throw young lawyers under the bus" when Toberoff initially failed to promptly acknowledge directing the contested line of questioning. Additional evidence exhibits — including 2015 OpenAI founding emails, Tesla Model 3 vehicle receipts, and correspondence with Gabe Newell and Hideo Kojima — were publicly released.<ref name="law360-judge3">[https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/2344286 Law360, May 1, 2026]</ref><ref name="verge-ev3">[https://www.theverge.com/2026/5/1/922571/musk-v-altman-all-evidence-revealed The Verge, May 1, 2026]</ref> The bench trial is expected to resume May 2. | |||
''See:'' [[News-Musk-v-Altman-Trial-Day-5-2026|Trial Day 5 — Judge Rebukes Toberoff]] | |||
=== Day 1 & 2 (April 28–29, 2026) === | |||
Opening arguments and Elon Musk's direct testimony. Musk testified that Sam Altman "looted" OpenAI by converting it from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity, and that the organization's original mission had been abandoned. OpenAI attorneys countered that the conversion was necessary to secure the capital needed to develop advanced AI. | |||
=== Day 3 (April 30, 2026) — Distillation Admission === | |||
Under cross-examination, Musk admitted that his AI company '''xAI''' had "partly" used OpenAI's models to train its own through '''distillation''' — a technique where one AI model is trained to mimic another. When asked by OpenAI attorney William Savitt whether xAI had distilled OpenAI models, Musk characterized it as "standard practice to use other AIs to validate your AI" and said "generally all the AI companies" do it.<ref name="wired-distill">[https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-distill-openai-models-partly-xai/ Wired, "Elon Musk Seemingly Admits xAI Has Used OpenAI's Models to Train Its Own," April 30, 2026]</ref><ref name="tc-distill">[https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/30/elon-musk-testifies-that-xai-trained-grok-on-openai-models/ TechCrunch, "Elon Musk testifies that xAI trained Grok on OpenAI models," April 30, 2026]</ref> | |||
=== Day 4 (April 30, 2026) — $97.4B Bid Probe === | |||
Judge '''Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers''' paused the trial to investigate the circumstances of Musk's '''$97.4 billion''' acquisition proposal for OpenAI. The probe was triggered when Musk's legal team failed to object to a document during cross-examination, inadvertently opening the door to evidence about the bid. The evidence could undermine Musk's claim that OpenAI has abandoned its nonprofit mission, as the bid itself could be seen as an attempt to acquire OpenAI for competitive advantage.<ref name="law360-bid">[https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/2375205 Law360, "OpenAI Judge Pauses Trial To Probe Musk Attys On $97B Bid," April 30, 2026]</ref> | |||
== References == | == References == | ||