The courtroom is littered with mattresses.
Several hard, wooden benches on the right side of U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ courtroom are reserved for OpenAI and Microsoft attorneys, executives and other members of the defense. About 10 people, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and general counsel Che Chang, have benefited from the thick black cushions — the plushest of them all is from brand Purple; $120 from Target—which saves them hours of sitting. Some cushions have rounded corners, while others have square corners. On Wednesday, Chang also took a step behind his back, a less common but no less unprecedented move in a courtroom.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, have overseen a great deal of the testing—and both have been prolific users of pristine white pillows. Judging by the tags bursting from the seams, the pillows appear to be from sleeping goods brand Coop, which sells a two-pack of alternative down-filled throw pillows for $35.
On Wednesday, an OpenAI bodyguard carried a purple handbag into the courtroom, containing a pillow for each Brockman. Anna allowed her husband only a minute to remain in pillow-less anonymity before she discreetly passed one of the pillows to him and then took her place. I felt bad for Joshua Achiam, OpenAI’s chief futurist, who later took Brockman’s seat, but he didn’t have any cushion left. (Achiam eventually received one of the more standard black cushions.)
OpenAI did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
A longtime technology attorney told WIRED that using cushions or pillows isn’t exactly “customary,” but he added, “It’s not completely out of left field.” Personally, he said, he has never seen lawyers use pillows or cushions during a trial, but still, he has “never been involved in a trial that lasted as many days as that trial.”
The main litigators in this case sit on comparatively luxurious leather chairs, although some pairs show signs of wear, so the padding may not be as sturdy as it appears.
My last time in this courtroom for an hour-long stint was in 2021, when covering parts of the Epic Games vs. Apple trial. But capacity was limited at the time due to COVID concerns, so I had a lot of room to expand. This time, the courtroom is filled almost to its maximum capacity – about 150 people – including bench seats of up to 90.
I thought about bringing my own pillow for about an hour on my first day of testing in late April, because, well, these benches are very uncomfortable. But I didn’t want to look weak. None of the other two dozen journalists who regularly attend – including one who was pregnant – brought pillows, at least initially. So I ran for six days and my lower back and back got worse every minute.
Last week, after a particularly brutal morning, I finally decided to bring in some help. I couldn’t find well-padded seat cushions for stadium bleachers, so I used “cooling” cushions in the steamy outdoor venues at the Tokyo Olympics. About two seconds after using it for the first time on Wednesday morning, I considered it counterproductive. It was too small and too thin to give any relief. My back took particular strain when I was typing notes about the Musk-inspired Jackass trophy that reportedly once had its own pillow.
Four hours later, I abandoned the pillow altogether. But I saw a New York Times reporter who eventually caved in, as well as the courtroom artist — who has a particularly colorful pillow — who remained seated on his pillow. Maybe I’ll be able to find a better solution for next week, when Gonzalez Rogers hears arguments about potential penalties.
Maxwell Zeff contributed to this report.
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