Tech

They went to Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman, among others, right before he proposed that he get 62.5 percent of a for-profit company. We are now looking at tax forms and letters — neither of which show any specific purpose. Jared Birchall also testified that there was no specific purpose for the donations. Shivon Zilis doesn’t remember it. Sam Teller doesn’t remember it. This is like watching the Warriors play a team of 6-year-olds.

Chronology and documents. Musk’s performance on the stand does give credence to the suggestion from Eddy that Musk “took his marbles and went home” when he couldn’t get his way.

She opens with a banger. Musk has said he made donations with strings attached. “Even the mother of his children can’t back his story.”

I do wonder how this would have played in the hands of a better lawyer. Molo’s book report did not overwhelm me with confidence in his case, particularly because a lot of his point-blank assertions were profoundly arguable.

In all that chaos, Microsoft did suggest board members. But OpenAI didn’t take those suggestions — except one, well after the crisis. I don’t know man, I don’t really understand how this goes to the Microsoft case. It might be a suggestion the nonprofit board doesn’t really control the for-profit — but Helen Toner’s and Tasha McCauley kind of came off as amateurs in their approach, not least because there was no investigation before the firing.

Following the Osmo Pocket 4’s debut nearly a month ago, DJI announced a long-rumored dual camera alternative called the Osmo Pocket 4P during the Cannes film festival today. While it can capture footage in the high-dynamic range 10-bit D-Log2 format, details on the 4P’s zoom capabilities, pricing, and US availability weren’t revealed.

So far he’s got “they’re a for-profit corporation,” “they know Musk was a co-founder,” and “they read the announcement OpenAI existed.” This is easily the thinnest part of a very thin case — on the OpenAI part, there’s at least Brockman’s diaries.

During his speech, Molo told the jury he wasn’t asking for money. That is in fact not true — otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting through phase 2 of the trial next week. “You slipped it in nicely,” YGR says. But Molo needs to retract that statement.

I am just going to break from telling you what Molo is saying to say what my personal impression was from sitting here all these weeks: Everyone was improvising. There was no plan. This is especially true of “the blip.” I do wonder if there’s a way to incorporate that into Musk’s case. Anyway, Molo just referenced an exhibit he didn’t have handy, asked for an exhibit number, and then said he’d get it for the jury late.r I have to say, I know Musk’s team is smaller than OpenAI’s, but this might have been a moment to call in another lawyer to handle the close. Someone who could have prepped better, perhaps. Marc Toberoff, who’s theoretically a key figure on this team, hasn’t stood up to do a single thing. Maybe this could have been his moment, I don’t know!

A power bank can only revive a dying phone if you actually have it with you. The 2,000mAh battery in Twelve South’s new $39.99 PowerClip can’t fully replenish a dead phone, but it can give you a few more hours of use. And at just 45 grams and about the size of an AirPods case, it’s easy to carry every day.

OpenAI thought it would get more subscribers from how ChatGPT was baked into Apple’s operating systems and that there would be deeper integration, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Molo keeps interrupting himself to restate things or say things like “remember the residuals?” It’s really important in closing to tell a straightforward, easy-to-follow story here, because this is where you put together all the testimony into your case. I know Molo’s got an uphill battle on the facts here, but this could be smoother. He did also just call Greg Brockman “Greg Altman.”

And that the “important constraints” of the capped-profit structure in the first two Microsoft investments did not breach the charitable trust. However, the 2023 investment”changed the world. Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI breached the charitable trust created by Elon” by enriching investors and insiders at the expense of the nonprofit and not open-sourcing the technology.

That money grew OpenAI “so the defendants could do these things that they’re doing now, that they shouldn’t do.” Sam Altman, seated in the courtroom, looks confused by this.

I disagree! I think that’s Ilya Sutskever, frankly. Those two did the least amount of beefing on the cross-exam, it’s true. But I am against the Sutskever erasure here — not least because he impressed a number of us in the peanut gallery. I’m sorry I keep bickering with Molo in these updates but a lot of what he’s saying is profoundly arguable. Sir, I was here the whole time!

Molo agrees that OpenAI needed money for compute. He is annoyed that a “brainstorming session” is being cast as evidence that Musk wanted to abandon OpenAI’s non-profit mission.

Of OpenAI’s founding as a charity, Molo says, “If he wanted to found a for profit business there was nobody in California or the planet who would be better suited and know how to do it than Elon Musk.” xAI, Musk’s struggling AI business that was acquired by SpaceX and is facing an awful lot of lawsuits about its habit of making deepfake porn, suggests otherwise. Anthropic, for instance, does not seem to be having these problems.

Molo asks the jury to imagine they are on a hike and come across a wooden bridge over a gorge, with a river 100 feet below. It looks a little scary but “a woman standing by the entry to the bridge says, ‘Don’t worry the bridge is built on Sam Altman’s version of the truth,’” Molo says. “Would you walk across that bridge? I don’t think many people would.”

Look, this case is full of liars. It just is! The biggest problem for his side is the contemporaneous written evidence.

“Are you completely trustworthy?” was the first question, and Altman’s answer is “I believe so.” So here’s the thing. I am largely trustworthy unless you leave your french fries unattended near me. What’s the best way to answer that question under oath? “If you are a truthful person, wouldn’t you say, ‘I am absolutely trustworthy?’” Molo asks. Well, I’m truthful. That’s how you know I might eat your french fries. Come on, man.

“17 times during his testimony I had to ask him to answer the question,” Molo says. Dude, you don’t want this. If they’re considering conduct, they’re considering your client’s conduct, which was remarkably bad.

“He’s sorry he could not be here,” Molo says. He’s thumping on how important jury service is, which is never a good sign in a closing statement.

I will spare you. This should go on for 20-30 minutes, she tells us.

MediaTek shared in a blog post that it will have chips in Google’s upcoming Googlebooks, joining Intel and Qualcomm. Interestingly, it mentions bringing Dimensity smartphone chips, not the Kompanio chips it already had in Chromebooks (and were quite good).

First there was a dongle. Then there was an attempt to move it. YGR took the opportunity to chew out Musk’s team for not consulting OpenAI about the monitor. There appeared to be no way for OpenAI to access the monitor and so it has been carried out. I am sitting next to the reporter from Wired and we are trying not to die of laughter.

OpenAI is concerned it will obscure the view of the defendants, and also that Musk’s team has refused to share it so they can it for their case as well. YGR says Musk’s team can use it if OpenAI’s team can use it, but it does need to be moved. “I wish you would have said something yesterday” about the monitor, she says to Musk’s team.

Sony’s trying to show off the AI Camera Assistant on the new Xperia 1 VIII, but I’m not sure a bunch of blown-out photos with weird ideas about highlights and shadows will convince anyone this is worth it. Our own Dominic Preston says he saw better results in his briefing, but this is looking pretty grim. (h/t Manideep!)

YGR is on the bench, and we are going through assorted issues before the jurors come in. It seems that YGR got page numbers on a set of demonstratives from Musk’s team and OpenAI’s team did not. “I would suggest you not use this,” YGR says of the slide at issue. Good morning!

I enjoyed reading this story about Bill Gates’ malevolent influence on the current crop of Silicon Valley megalomaniacs. If you remember his pre-Gates Foundation reputation, you will particularly appreciate it.

Bandai Namco and Fender have collaborated on a limited edition version of the Player II Telecaster guitar. Its alder wood body is finished in black with a blue maze design and a dot-gobbling Pac-Man being pursued by Blinky, Inky, Pinky and Clyde. It’s available now for $1,099.99.

Journalist Maggie Mertens chats with other writers about their experience leaving Substack — and escaping its tax:

The new additions include Space Invaders Virtual Collection, V-Tetris, Jack Bros., Virtual Bowling, and Vertical Force. Of the 22 games released for Nintendo’s first 3D console you can now play 12 of them using the new Virtual Boy accessory for the original Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch 2.

We asked the company to clarify what’s going on here. Maybe there’s an explanation, but I know a lot of people wouldn’t put it past Amazon to pull a stunt like this.