Topline<\/p>\n
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s attorneys asked for the jury in his trial against Elon Musk to disregard part of his testimony Tuesday<\/a>, after Musk\u2019s lawyer made \u201cunsubstantiated allegations\u201d suggesting the Senate was investigating Altman, with Altman\u2019s lawyers accusing Musk\u2019s attorney of unfairly prejudicing the jury against the OpenAI chief.<\/p>\n OpenAI CEO Sam Altman arrives to court on May 12 in Oakland, California. <\/p>\n Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n Altman\u2019s attorneys filed a court brief<\/a> after the OpenAI CEO testified<\/a> Tuesday at the trial, in which Musk claims Altman and other OpenAI cofounders deceived him by getting him to invest in OpenAI as a nonprofit and then changing its model to be a for-profit venture.<\/p>\n Altman\u2019s attorneys accused Musk\u2019s lawyer Steven Molo of using his cross-examination of Altman \u201cas a vehicle to present the jury with a parade of unsubstantiated allegations\u201d against the OpenAI chief and making \u201ca litany of unproven and untestable hearsay allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n Molo, during his questioning, mistakenly suggested Altman was being investigated by the Senate, after it was instead House lawmakers who sent a letter<\/a> to the OpenAI CEO last week asking for details about his personal investments.<\/p>\n Molo also falsely suggested that congressional investigation was over testimony Altman gave to Congress in 2023 saying he doesn\u2019t receive any equity from OpenAI, after Altman testified Tuesday he doesn\u2019t receive any direct equity from OpenAI, but has an indirect investment in the company through a different fund.<\/p>\n The court brief also took issue with Molo asking Altman questions regarding an unflattering article about Altman\u2019s leadership in The New Yorker<\/a>, which Altman\u2019s lawyers argue is based on \u201chearsay,\u201d and for making \u201cunfounded allegations that Mr. Altman had made false statements in SEC filings\u201d (Molo has not yet responded to a request for comment).<\/p>\n Altman\u2019s lawyers want the court to instruct the jury to disregard Molo\u2019s suggestion that Altman received a letter from the Senate regarding his 2023 testimony, because \u201cno such letter was ever sent.\u201d<\/p>\n What To Watch For<\/p>\n The OpenAI trial will resume Wednesday morning in Oakland, California, and is expected to run through Thursday before jury deliberations begin next week. Altman completed his testimony on Tuesday, but it\u2019s still possible he could be called again to take the stand. The trial carries high stakes for OpenAI and Altman, as if Musk wins, OpenAI could be forced to revert back to its nonprofit structure and Altman removed from the board.<\/p>\n Why Is Sam Altman Under Investigation?<\/p>\n The House Oversight Committee sent Altman a letter<\/a> last week asking for details about how OpenAI deals with potential conflicts of interest, based on concerns about Altman\u2019s personal investments. Altman, whose net worth<\/a> Forbes values at more than<\/a> $3.5 billion, has amassed his wealth through his outside investments, since he doesn\u2019t have direct equity in OpenAI. Many of the companies he\u2019s invested in do business with OpenAI or have been in discussions to, however, raising ethics concerns. The House inquiry came after The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> Altman pushed OpenAI to make a nine-figure investment in Helion, a nuclear fusion company that Altman has a significant stake in, which some OpenAI employees reportedly had strong concerns about. In addition to the House, state attorneys general also sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to scrutinize Altman\u2019s investments ahead of OpenAI\u2019s IPO. The Senate has not opened any investigation into Altman. At the trial Tuesday, Altman maintained he followed proper ethics guidance around his investments in companies linked to OpenAI and recused himself from any matters that could pose a conflict, and said he would respond to the House inquiry. <\/p>\n Further ReadingForbesSam Altman Defends Himself From Conflict Of Interest Claims At OpenAI Trial: \u2018Always Been Recused\u2019By Alison Durkee<\/a>ForbesSam Altman\u2019s Net Worth Tops $4 Billion From Newly Revealed Investments During Musk-Altman TrialBy Alicia Park<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline OpenAI CEO Sam Altman\u2019s attorneys asked for the jury in his trial against Elon Musk to disregard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[140,23434,10990,13611,157,12752,370,23435,1346,14344,14644],"class_list":["post-37592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-elon-musk","tag-elon-musks-attorney","tag-jury","tag-musk-v-altman","tag-openai","tag-openai-trial","tag-sam-altman","tag-sam-altman-investigated-by-congress","tag-senate","tag-steven-molo","tag-testimony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}