New York Times reporter Mike Isaac discusses the courtroom rules and media access in Oakland during the federal civil trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI.
Opinion
Isaac: Courtroom vibe over facts benefits Elon Musk against OpenAI
“Just, it makes the dynamic of the facts don't necessarily always matter, but the vibe can really matter, which I think is a benefit for Elon, honestly.”
Opinion
Isaac: Musk leaned into his 'existential' persona on the stand
“Elon, I think from day one, has leaned into the persona of Elon, and just from him being on the stand and saying, I care about humanity, I mean, he says he does whatever he does or doesn't, but like, just leaning into this, like, I'm a world-changing entrepren…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Isaac: AI Model Distillation Across Competitors Is an Industry Open Secret
“Elon went out of his way to say, Everyone kind of does this. It's like an open secret in the industry, which I think is like, also kind of true, but that doesn't make it, there's like, it's fraught, I guess is what I would say.”
Assertion Supported
Elon Musk and Ari Emanuel submitted a bid to buy OpenAI
“Musk made a bid with Ari Emanuel and some other companies. That's right, to buy the whole company.”
Assertion Supported
Isaac: Burchall Testified Musk's OpenAI Bid Aimed to Establish Valuation
“Burchall in court was saying this was us trying to sort of establish a pricing mechanism to like value the actual entity itself”
Assertion Supported
Judge prohibited AI extinction and doomerism arguments in Musk-OpenAI trial
“The judge prohibited, like, going too far into, like, Doomerism into the world stuff, and she's like, look, that's kind of a sideshow distraction, like, extinction humanity stuff is not the point of this case”