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Judge "This trial is not an AI safety case"... Musk's attempt to incite AI fear curbed
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who sued OpenAI claiming damage due to its breach of the non-profit promise, stated that he did not thoroughly review the commercialization-related documents sent by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
According to foreign media such as Reuters and CNBC, CEO Musk, testifying for the third day at a trial held at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oakland Division, on the 30th (local time), was asked by William Savitt, attorney for OpenAI, whether he had reviewed the documents sent by CEO Altman in August 2017, and replied, "I only looked at the title and didn't read the fine print."
The documents stated that OpenAI would transition from a non-profit organization to a for-profit entity supervised by a non-profit entity.
Attorney Savitt pointed out that OpenAI personnel had repeatedly sent emails to CEO Musk discussing turning their technology private and generating profit from it, arguing that CEO Musk was aware of the commercialization plan.
However, CEO Musk countered, "Altman assured me that OpenAI would remain non-profit."
Attorney Savitt also grilled CEO Musk, who criticized OpenAI for becoming a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) capable of pursuing profit after being a non-profit, about the fact that xAI, which he founded, transitioned from a PBC to a general corporation.
CEO Musk responded, "From my perspective, a Public Benefit Corporation and a general corporation are essentially the same."
He then admitted that xAI has not yet made its AI models open source, as he has advocated.
CEO Musk also expressed frustration when attorney Savitt repeatedly interrupted his answers, saying, "If you keep interrupting me, I cannot give a complete answer."
During his testimony that day, he also stated that Tesla, which he leads, has no intention of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) with intelligence equal to or higher than humans in all aspects.
He replied, "Tesla's AI is for autonomous vehicles, different from a massive AI model that can answer any question."
However, OpenAI presented his post from X (formerly Twitter) last month, where he said, 'Tesla will be one of the companies developing AGI,' as evidence in the trial.
Musk further testified regarding whether Tesla is building a 'robot army,' saying, "We don't build any weapons," and "If we build robots in large numbers, we need to ensure they are safe and that a 'Terminator'-like situation does not occur."
On that day, Musk's side requested permission for AI expert testimony, arguing that the jury should be informed of the risks that AI could lead to human extinction or climate catastrophe, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presided over the trial, rejected it.
Judge Rogers emphasized, "This trial is not a case about AI risks," and "The core issues are breach of public trust and unjust enrichment."
Judge Rogers also pointed out the "irony" of CEO Musk founding xAI while advocating for the dangers of AI, stating, "I think many people would not want to entrust the future of humanity to Mr. Musk, but that is not important (in this trial). We will not discuss such issues."
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