One super PAC is allied with Anthropic. The other is tied to OpenAI. They’re both spending millions to influence this year’s elections.

As SpaceX and OpenAI race toward IPOs, a tiny circle of tech leaders tightens its grip on AI’s future

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian. Let’s recap a whirlwind five days that may determine the future of AI.

SpaceX reveals plan for $1.75tn stock market debut that could make Musk a trillionaire

Mars colony and Grok warnings: five strange details in SpaceX’s pitch to investors

The main takeaways from Elon Musk’s plans for $1.75tn SpaceX flotation

Meta is rapidly reorganizing its workers’ jobs around AI: ‘Transfers aren’t optional’

Nvidia’s revenue blows past Wall Street expectations as AI boom accelerates

Incoming Ofcom chair vows to take on ‘tech bros’

OpenAI makes breakthrough on 80-year-old maths problem

Meta settles major social media addiction lawsuit with school district

Tesla Cybertruck pulled from Texas lake after attempting ‘wade mode’

Continue reading...

© Composite: Getty Images, Reuters

© Composite: Getty Images, Reuters

© Composite: Getty Images, Reuters

OpenAI’s plans now seem all but guaranteed, given that the world’s richest man couldn’t put a stop to them

On Monday morning, a jury in Oakland, California, handed a resounding victory to Sam Altman and OpenAI in their long, bitter courtroom battle with Elon Musk.

The federal jury found Altman, OpenAI and its president, Greg Brockman, not liable for Elon Musk’s claims that they unjustly enriched themselves and broke a founding contract made with Musk when founding the startup. The unanimous verdict, delivered after less than two hours of deliberation, is a stark rebuke of Musk and his lawyer’s claims that Altman “stole a charity” through his leadership of OpenAI.

Continue reading...

© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

© Composite: Getty Images

Nine-person jury to consider whether AI firm bilked world’s richest person and unjustly enriched themselves

Closing arguments began on Thursday in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI, bringing the weeks-long courtroom battle between the two tech moguls nearer to a decision. A nine-person jury is set to deliberate and return a verdict on whether they believe the AI firm and Altman are liable in the case.

The trial, which began last month in an Oakland, California, federal courthouse, has gripped Silicon Valley and featured some of the tech industry’s biggest names as witnesses. Attorneys for both sides have presented testimony and documents that have exposed Musk and Altman’s private dealings, as well as provided a window into the contentious history of OpenAI.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters

© Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters

© Photograph: Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters

Fixating on questions of whether Altman is untrustworthy, or whether Musk is even less so distracts from a far deeper problem with AI

If it wasn’t already clear, Elon Musk and Sam Altman hate each other.

While the two men were once co-founders of OpenAI, they’re now locked in a vicious feud, playing out in all its theatrics in front of a judge and jury in a California courtroom. Musk is suing, alleging that Altman and OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, tricked him into forming and funding the organization as a non-profit before they subsequently restructured it to have a for-profit entity. OpenAI says Musk was well aware of those plans and frames the lawsuit as an attempt to derail a competitor.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images