News-May-04-2026

May 4, 2026 — Daily digest of AI law developments.

Contents

1. Musk Sought OpenAI Settlement Two Days Before Trial 2. EU's €20B Sovereign Compute Plan Faces Criticism 3. Anthropic Unveils $1.5B Joint Venture with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs 4. "This is Fine" Creator Alleges AI Startup Stole His Art 5. Building Trades Unions Join Forces with Tech Giants in AI Data Center Push 6. Musk v. Altman Trial Enters Week 2 with Expert Testimony 7. Trump Administration Mulls AI Model Vetting Executive Order

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Musk Sought OpenAI Settlement Two Days Before Trial

Elon Musk texted OpenAI President Greg Brockman two days before his lawsuit against OpenAI was slated to head to trial, seeking to gauge his interest in a settlement, according to a court filing late Sunday. When Brockman suggested both sides drop their claims, Musk replied: "By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America. If you insist, so it will be." OpenAI's lawyers moved to enter the text into evidence, arguing it "tends to prove motive and bias" and that Musk's motivation in pursuing the lawsuit is "to attack a competitor."

The trial in federal court in Oakland, California, is now in its second week. Musk testified last week and Brockman could be called to the stand as soon as Monday.

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EU's €20B Sovereign Compute Plan Faces Criticism

The European Union's plan to build massive AI computing hubs with a €20 billion investment is drawing widespread criticism from legislators and experts who question whether there is sufficient demand to justify the expense. The plan to build four to five "gigafactories" each powered by 100,000 GPUs was outlined by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over a year ago. German Greens MEP Sergey Lagodinsky said "Nobody could explain to me what is the business case" while others voiced concern about the plan's reliance on Nvidia GPUs.

Separately, Denmark has announced a temporary moratorium on new large-scale data center construction as its national power grid struggles with surging energy demand.

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Anthropic Unveils $1.5B Joint Venture with Blackstone and Goldman Sachs

Anthropic is creating an approximately $1.5 billion joint venture with Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, Hellman & Friedman, and other Wall Street firms to sell AI tools to private equity-backed companies, according to reports. Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman are each expected to invest roughly $300 million.

The deal expands Anthropic's commercial footprint amid ongoing litigation with the Pentagon over military AI use restrictions and the government's supply-chain-risk blacklisting of the company.

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"This is Fine" Creator Alleges AI Startup Stole His Art

KC Green, creator of the iconic "This is Fine" webcomic, says AI startup Artisan AI stole his artwork for use in the company's marketing campaign without permission. Artisan previously gained notoriety for San Francisco billboards reading "Stop Hiring Humans." The dispute highlights ongoing tensions between artists and AI companies over the use of copyrighted works in AI marketing.

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Building Trades Unions Join Forces with Tech Giants in AI Data Center Push

Building trades unions have become powerful allies of technology companies in the race to build AI data centers. Unions are expanding training centers, recruiting apprentices, and countering community opposition to data center projects, often citing national security concerns in the AI race with China. Data center construction now consumes 40-50% of union work hours in some regions.

See individual article: News-Unions-Tech-AI-Data-Centers-May-2026

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Musk v. Altman Trial Enters Week 2 with Expert Testimony

The Musk v. Altman trial entered its second week on Monday, May 4, 2026, in federal court in Oakland, California, with Elon Musk's legal team calling Stuart Russell, a prominent AI researcher and professor at UC Berkeley, as an expert witness. Russell testified broadly about AI risks, including algorithmic discrimination, the possibility of AI reinforcing 'delusional beliefs,' and large-scale job displacement. Russell's larger concerns about the existential threats of unconstrained AI didn't get aired in open court after OpenAI's attorneys objected and Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers limited his testimony.

Separately, Greg Brockman testified that his OpenAI stake is now worth approximately $30 billion, and a Musk attorney asked why he hasn't donated $29 billion to OpenAI's nonprofit arm. The case is a bench trial with advisory jury — Judge Gonzalez Rogers will make the final ruling. The case was narrowed to breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment after Musk dropped fraud claims on April 25, 2026.

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Trump Administration Mulls AI Model Vetting Executive Order

The Trump administration, which until now has promoted a hands-off approach to artificial intelligence, is discussing an executive order to create a working group on AI oversight, including potential government review of new AI models before public release, according to U.S. officials briefed on the deliberations.

The proposed working group would bring together tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures. Among the options being considered is a formal government review process for new AI models before they are publicly deployed — a significant shift from the administration's earlier deregulatory stance that gave Silicon Valley broad freedom to roll out AI technology.

The deliberations remain at an early stage and no final decision has been made on the scope or structure of any oversight mechanism. The discussions follow months of mounting pressure from national security officials, bipartisan lawmakers, and AI safety advocates who have warned of risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems developed without meaningful government guardrails.

The potential shift comes as the White House faces the reality that AI capabilities are advancing faster than anticipated, with frontier labs racing toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). The working group concept mirrors recommendations from AI safety advocates who have called for a licensing or pre-deployment review regime similar to those used in pharmaceuticals, aviation, and nuclear energy.

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