23 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Elizabeth Lopatto

Elizabeth Lopatto

Senior Reporter

Senior Reporter

    More From Elizabeth Lopatto

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    We now have a very boring expert witness testifying to AI risks.

    His name is Stuart Russell, and he’s getting $4,000/hr for his first 40 hours of working with the team (and $1,500/hr after that). Seems like an expensive way for Musk’s lawyers to run out the clock… Because while we are getting some testimony about AI risks, I don’t really understand how this is relevant to the dispute at hand.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Greg Brockman won’t be asked about Musk’s threat.

    We’re going through motions before the jury arrives. The motion I highlighted earlier this morning has been denied; YGR says the time to bring in the threats from Musk was when Musk was on the stand.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elon Musk tried to settle before the trial — and got threatening.

    In response, Greg Brockman suggested both OpenAI and Musk drop their claims. Musk wasn’t interested. “By the end of this week, you and Sam [Altman] will be the most hated men in America,” he told them. OpenAI’s lawyers are trying to get the statement admitted to court as evidence that “Mr. Musk’s motivation in pursuing this lawsuit is to attack a competitor and its principals.”

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Is AI ruining… fashion?

    There are compelling reasons to believe that slop is no longer just limited to the internet. From AI design tools to trend scraping and fast fashion… This video makes a compelling argument that AI plays a role in why so few fashion brands have unique identities anymore.

    The craziest part of Musk v. Altman happened while the jury was out of the room

    Jared Birchall, Musk’s money manager, answered a question he wasn’t supposed to.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Jury is being dismissed early so YGR can deal with an objection to Birchall’s testimony.

    After Birchall said he had no firsthand knowledge of the xAI bid for OpenAI’s assets, OpenAI’s lawyer asked that his testimony from the direct examination be struck. We are going to hear about that now, outside the presence of the jury.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Birchall is actually very funny outside of court? Good for him.

    He sees the OpenAI for-profit term sheet and writes to Shivon Zilis: “Pretty plain vanilla for-profit structure. So kinda hard to push a narrative that doesn’t involve investors being very focused on ROI. I’m a super fan of capitalism and making tons of money doing great things but not sure if this correlates with the ‘noble cause for humanity, not doing it to make money’ narrative. Did he/would he [Altman, lower on the email chain] offer E a board seat?”

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    We are now hearing about the pause in quarterly donations.

    We saw Chris Clark’s email about pausing donations yesterday during Musk’s testimony. Today, we see an email from Birchall: “This was ready to go out when I was told that Elon informed Greg and Ilya that the funding would be on pause until they came to terms on the right path moving forward.”
    This was while there were discussions of how to put the for-profit Musk wanted together.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    We’re back.

    And we are talking with Birchall about tax deductions for charitable giving.

    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Elizabeth Lopatto
    Second break of the day.

    OpenAI and Musk’s counsel need to discuss something... Back in 15.