Reading view
Our tech overlords are planning for conscious AI to conquer the cosmos. What could go wrong? | Eduardo Porter
A new belief set is uniting some of the wealthiest men in the world around a ‘transhuman’ future – actual humanity be damned
Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, took to the Internet a few years ago to propose that homo sapiens would be the first species “to design our own descendants”. In his best case scenario, the “merge” between humans and artificial intelligence occurs at some point over the next 50 years. The alternative, where we remain simply human and the machines follow their own path, is more ominous. “If two different species both want the same thing and only one can have it – in this case, to be the dominant species on the planet and beyond – they are going to have conflict,” he wrote.
More recently, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who at one point last year was granted the power to reconfigure the US federal government, argued on his social media platform, X, that “it increasingly appears that humanity is a biological bootloader for digital superintelligence” – our role in the history of the cosmos reduced to that of the low level code that boots up a computer before you can run sophisticated programs on it.
Continue reading...
© Illustration: James Kerr/Scorpion Dagger/The Guardian

© Illustration: James Kerr/Scorpion Dagger/The Guardian

© Illustration: James Kerr/Scorpion Dagger/The Guardian
Powerful A.I. Super PACs Duel Over the Midterms: ‘This Is a War’
Musk and Altman’s AI rivalry reaches boiling point as IPO race heats up
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
How Sam Altman’s victory over Elon Musk clears way for OpenAI’s trillion-dollar ambitions
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
High-stakes courtroom drama of Musk v OpenAI hears closing arguments
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
The Elon Musk v Sam Altman battle is a distraction | Karen Hao
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