{"id":21368,"date":"2026-04-27T14:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/21368\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:19:10","slug":"musk-vs-altman-a-high-stakes-a-i-clash-goes-to-court-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/21368\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk vs. Altman: A High-Stakes A.I. Clash Goes to Court on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew here. Breaking: The United Airlines C.E.O. Scott Kirby just publicly described<\/a> why he had approached American Airlines about a tie-up. The potential deal, he suggested, would have been \u201cabout adding and not subtracting\u201d from the airline industry and would have created \u201ca truly great airline that customers love.\u201d Kirby acknowledged that he won\u2019t press the matter \u2014 but the message feels a bit like it\u2019s meant to put pressure on American anyway.<\/p>\n

Separately, we are relieved that this weekend\u2019s shooting at the White House correspondents\u2019 dinner did not result in widespread casualties. We\u2019re also still processing the financial implications. President Trump has called for the event to be rescheduled within 30 days. Was it insured? Would the Washington Hilton offer the venue and services for free? And what is the price tag for security?<\/p>\n

The OpenAI trial is set to start<\/p>\n

The trial of the artificial intelligence age, a legal battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI, is set to begin Monday<\/a> in a courtroom in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n

But while much of the attention is on the juicy details about OpenAI\u2019s back story, what matters most is what the outcome might mean for the future of the A.I. industry.<\/p>\n

The fight promises lots of dirt. Musk\u2019s lawsuit accuses OpenAI, which the billionaire co-founded with Sam Altman and others in 2015 as a nonprofit A.I. research lab, of betraying its original mission. OpenAI argues that Musk, who left in 2018, had wanted to control the organization (and had also sought to commercialize it).<\/p>\n

Legal discovery in the case has already unearthed titillating details<\/a> involving a wide cast of characters, including Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member and the mother of several of Musk\u2019s children; Mark Zuckerberg of Meta; Satya Nadella of Microsoft; and Jared Birchall, a longtime Musk lieutenant. Some are scheduled to testify.<\/p>\n

Musk is asking for stiff penalties. They include more than $150 billion in damages; the removal of Altman and another OpenAI co-founder, Greg Brockman, from their leadership roles; and a return of OpenAI to a fully nonprofit status.<\/p>\n

The A.I. sector has changed a lot since the dispute began. OpenAI isn\u2019t a research lab dependent on Musk\u2019s money anymore: It\u2019s a $730 billion behemoth that has raised hundreds of billions of dollars from an array of tech giants.<\/p>\n

Yet Musk is a formidable A.I. competitor, too. He raised billions for his xAI lab, then had his SpaceX buy it at a $250 billion valuation. SpaceX has since agreed to potentially buy the A.I. coding start-up Cursor<\/a> for $60 billion.<\/p>\n

The A.I. industry doesn\u2019t just revolve around Musk\u2019s and Altman\u2019s businesses, either.<\/p>\n

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI executives, has soared in popularity among the all-important corporate crowd. And its powerful latest model, Claude Mythos Preview, has scared many<\/a> with its perceived potential for harm.<\/p>\n

Google, the A.I. competitor Musk has long worried about, has made its Gemini model highly capable. It\u2019s expected to announce even more powerful A.I. tools<\/a> at its developer conference next month.<\/p>\n

Other competitors, like DeepSeek of China, are making potent models \u2014 available free of charge.<\/p>\n

The stakes: A Musk win could deal OpenAI a potentially serious blow. An OpenAI win could permit Altman to run the company more freely. But it\u2019s unlikely to give either side a decisive edge in an industry that in some ways has outgrown their fight.<\/p>\n

HERE\u2019S WHAT\u2019S HAPPENING <\/p>\n

The suspect in the White House correspondents\u2019 dinner shooting is set to appear in court on Monday. Federal authorities said evidence showed that Cole Tomas Allen<\/a>, 31, was armed with knives, a shotgun and a handgun and had intended to target administration officials, including President Trump. The president used the incident to justify his push for a secure ballroom, though federal officials said security at the event worked as intended<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Iran reportedly offers to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with a catch. Tehran has proposed talks on letting ship traffic resume through the vital passageway for global energy shipments, but wants to postpone discussions<\/a> about its nuclear program, according to Axios. The Trump administration is said to plan a discussion about how to resolve the stalemate with Iran<\/a>. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, traded above $106 on Monday.<\/p>\n

Earnings and central banks are in focus this week. About 44 percent of the S&P 500, by market value, announce quarterly results this week, notably the tech giants Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, all on Wednesday, and Apple on Thursday. Investors will also pay attention to what Fed policymakers do and say on Wednesday \u2014 more below on that \u2014 as well as the Bank of Japan (Tuesday) and the European Central Bank and the Bank of England (both Thursday).<\/p>\n

A big \u201cyes\u201d for Warsh <\/p>\n

President Trump looks to be a step closer to getting his man to run the Fed.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina and a key vote on the Senate Banking Committee, signaled he would stop blocking<\/a> the nomination of Kevin Warsh for Fed chair. A vote to advance Warsh\u2019s nomination to the full Senate could come as soon as Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tillis\u2019s announcement<\/a> may remove some of the succession drama hanging over the central bank. But the path to interest rate cuts, a Trump imperative, still looks uncertain.<\/p>\n

The context: Tillis had vowed to block confirmation of any of Trump\u2019s Fed picks, including Warsh, until the Justice Department ended its criminal investigation into Jay Powell, the current Fed chair, and a costly renovation<\/a> of the central bank\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said the department would close its inquiry<\/a>. While Pirro said she would \u201cnot hesitate\u201d to reopen the investigation, Tillis appeared to be satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take the Department of Justice at its word: the investigation is closed,\u201d Tillis wrote on X, calling the inquiry a \u201cthreat to the Fed\u2019s independence.\u201d Tillis told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that only a criminal referral from the inspector general would be enough in his mind to reopen the criminal investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But what will Powell do? His tenure as chair is set to end May 15. But last month, he said he had \u201cno intention of leaving<\/a>\u201d the Fed\u2019s board \u2014 he could stay on as a governor through January 2028 \u2014 \u201cuntil the investigation is well and truly over.\u201d (He\u2019s also deeply invested in what happens<\/a> to Trump\u2019s effort to fire a fellow governor, Lisa Cook.)<\/p>\n

So does he also see the matter as a case closed?<\/p>\n

Expect him to field that question at Wednesday\u2019s news conference:<\/p>\n

Powell said last month that if Warsh\u2019s confirmation were to bog down, he would stay on<\/a> as acting chair, a move that would probably rankle Trump.<\/p>\n

The other pressing matter will be rates. Before Powell speaks, the Fed is expected to hold borrowing costs steady. Inflation has surged<\/a> since the war in the Middle East began, potentially tying policymakers\u2019 hands on rates.<\/p>\n

Worth noting: During his confirmation hearing last week, Warsh never explicitly called for rate cuts. But hours before the hearing, Trump told CNBC that he would be disappointed<\/a> if a Warsh-led Fed didn\u2019t lower borrowing costs right away.<\/p>\n

That said, traders are betting that the Fed won\u2019t cut rates until September 2027.<\/p>\n

Lessons from London on taxing luxury homes <\/p>\n

In New York, a pied-\u00e0-terre tax proposal<\/a> aimed at the ultrawealthy and spearheaded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani has roiled the city\u2019s business community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, real estate agents and economists have entered the debate with dire warnings that the tax could do wider economic harm, reports Debra Kamin for The Times. As a lesson worth heeding, they point to London<\/a>, which has placed hefty taxes on luxury homes during the past decade and seen its wider real estate market slump considerably.<\/p>\n

Kamin writes:<\/p>\n

The flurry of new taxes, said Lucian Cook, a London-based housing economist who leads research for Savills, has created a narrative that London is no longer as friendly to real estate investment. The number of foreign buyers in Britain registering with a real estate agent \u2014 the first step before purchasing property \u2014 is now at its lowest level since 2008. At the same time, the real estate markets in cities like Barcelona and Dubai, where tax rules are much friendlier to second-home buyers, are seeing a fresh influx of foreign money.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne city\u2019s tax is another city\u2019s gain,\u201d said Ryan Serhant, the founder and chief executive of the New York brokerage Serhant.<\/p>\n

In related news, a proposal for a new wealth tax on California\u2019s billionaires has collected enough signatures<\/a> to place the measure on the state\u2019s November ballot, according to a labor union backing the idea. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Silicon Valley executives like Sergey Brin of Google<\/a> are strong critics of the measure.<\/p>\n

Readers respond: Should Spirit Airlines get a bailout? <\/p>\n

On Thursday, Andrew asked about a proposal to save Spirit Airlines<\/a> in which the Trump administration would lend the airline up to $500 million, giving the federal government a controlling stake in the company and giving it preferential status among other lenders. Andrew also pointed out that the government previously blocked Spirit\u2019s proposed sale to JetBlue during the Biden administration. \u201cShould taxpayers rescue Spirit Airlines?\u201d Andrew asked.<\/p>\n

A lot of you responded and the sentiment was overwhelmingly against a bailout. Here\u2019s what you had to say (the answers have been condensed and edited):<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you point out, in the past the government has bailed out banks and automakers. But in those instances there was support for an entire sector, not just one entity. In this case, Spirit is just a very poorly run company.\u201d \u2014 Scott Schildhaus<\/p>\n

\u201cSpirit Airlines is not \u2018too big to fail.\u2019 While it will be bad for regular employees, the executives who could not keep the company solvent do not deserve a taxpayer bailout. We are already spending money we do not have on things we should not be paying for.\u201d \u2014 Lou Steigerwald<\/p>\n

THE SPEED READ <\/p>\n

Deals<\/p>\n

China blocked<\/a> Meta\u2019s $2 billion takeover of the artificial intelligence start-up Manus, potentially raising tensions with the U.S. amid a tech arms race. (FT)<\/p>\n

Sun Pharmaceuticals of India agreed to buy Organon<\/a>, a spinoff from Merck focusing largely on women\u2019s health, for $11.75 billion. (WSJ)<\/p>\n

Technology and artificial intelligence<\/p>\n

Best of the rest<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael,\u201d the Michael Jackson biopic, has been savaged by critics. That didn\u2019t stop it from collecting an estimated $217 million<\/a> in its opening weekend at the box office. (NYT)<\/p>\n

How Dwarkesh Patel became the podcaster of choice<\/a> for the A.I. elite. (NYT)<\/p>\n

Sabastian Sawe won the London Marathon on Sunday \u2014 and so did Adidas<\/a>, whose $500 ultralight running shoes were on his feet when he became the first runner to finish a competitive marathon in less than two hours. (WWD)<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew here. Breaking: The United Airlines C.E.O. Scott Kirby just publicly described why he had approached American Airlines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[12975,12967,12972,458,12977,12969,12974,12976,12965,12973,12970,8,12978,12984,12964,12979,9,12971,12968,12980,12982,7,12966,12981,12983],"class_list":{"0":"post-21368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-alphabet-inc","9":"tag-altman","10":"tag-anthropic-ai-llc","11":"tag-artificial-intelligence","12":"tag-birchall","13":"tag-brockman","14":"tag-compensation-for-damages-law","15":"tag-deepseek-artificial-intelligence-co-ltd","16":"tag-elon","17":"tag-google-inc","18":"tag-greg","19":"tag-headlines","20":"tag-jared-1974","21":"tag-mark-e","22":"tag-musk","23":"tag-nadella","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-openai-labs","26":"tag-samuel-h","27":"tag-satya","28":"tag-shivon","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-x-ai-inc","31":"tag-zilis","32":"tag-zuckerberg"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116477110705783645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}