OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman were seen in the security line inside the courthouse this morning, but Elon Musk was nowhere to be found. A few dozen journalists gathered in an overflow room to listen to an audio stream of the proceedings.
Today’s goal was to select nine jurors who could be impartial and fair in this case – a particularly difficult challenge given that the main characters are some of the most high-profile tech executives in the world. When questioned by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and attorneys, several potential jurors said they had a negative opinion of Musk. But this does not necessarily disqualify them; Only one juror was ultimately excused based on his strong negative opinion regarding Musk.
“The reality is a lot of people don’t like him,” Gonzalez Rogers said in the courtroom. He said he believed Americans who had negative feelings about Musk could still have loyalty to the judicial process and have the case decided fairly. The jury will help establish key facts about whether Sam Altman and other defendants improperly diverted OpenAI’s nonprofit enterprise away from its core mission, potentially violating the law in the process. But their decision will be advisory—the final decision rests with Gonzalez Rogers.
The nine jurors ultimately selected represent a fairly diverse group, including a painter, a former Lockheed Martin employee, and a psychiatrist. Some of them said that their opinion of artificial intelligence technology broadly is negative. However, in the end, all those selected assured the court that their outside opinions about Musk and AI should not interfere with their ability to determine the facts of the case.
OpenAI lawyer William Savitt later said at a press briefing that he was satisfied with the jury verdict.
Savitt told reporters, “Mr. Altman, Mr. Brockman and OpenAI look forward to presenting their case to that jury. They are confident in their position and look forward to the facts coming to light.” “We think the hurdle we need to overcome is just presenting the truth here. We have a story about what happened that’s consistent with the facts, it’s consistent with the documents, and we want the jury to see that.”
Musk is already trying to win his case in the court of public opinion. On Monday morning, the billionaire used his social media platform X to promote the recent New Yorker investigation into Altman’s alleged deceptive business conduct. The story is several weeks old, and the fact that Musk publicized it on the first day of testing is no coincidence. Earlier this morning, OpenAI’s official newsroom account published a post on X calling Musk’s lawsuit an “attempt to undermine our work to ensure all humanity benefits from artificial general intelligence.” Meanwhile, protesters outside the court were protesting the AI race as a whole and demanding a halt to further development.
On Tuesday, lawyers for OpenAI and Elon Musk will make opening statements and the first witnesses in the case will be called to the stand.
This is a version of Maxwell Zeff’s Model Behavior Newsletter. Read previous newsletters Here.
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