马斯克诉奥特曼案第三周:埃隆·马斯克与萨姆·奥特曼就双方可信度问题相互攻击。如今,陪审团将选择支持其中一方。

qimuai 发布于 阅读:23 一手编译

马斯克诉奥特曼案第三周:埃隆·马斯克与萨姆·奥特曼就双方可信度问题相互攻击。如今,陪审团将选择支持其中一方。

内容来源:https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/05/15/1137357/musk-v-altman-week-3/

内容总结:

马斯克诉奥特曼案进入终局:陪审团将裁决科技巨头“信用之战”

在马斯克诉OpenAI一案的最后一周庭审中,双方律师就埃隆·马斯克与OpenAI首席执行官萨姆·奥特曼的诚信问题展开激烈交锋。奥特曼被就涉嫌向OpenAI的商业伙伴撒谎及进行自我交易的历史接受质询,但他随即反击,将马斯克描绘成一个企图掌控通用人工智能(AGI)发展的“权力追逐者”。

为证明自身对AI安全的承诺,OpenAI团队向法庭展示了一座金色的驴屁股奖杯——这是员工因反对马斯克激进推进AGI计划而被骂“蠢驴”后收到的赠礼。

庭审焦点:违约与动机
马斯克律师史蒂文·莫罗在结案陈词中主张,奥特曼与OpenAI总裁格雷格·布罗克曼违背了当初让OpenAI保持非营利性质的承诺,将马斯克的捐款用于开发普惠AI,反而设立营利性子公司使自身暴富。OpenAI律师莎拉·埃迪则反驳称,奥特曼从未承诺维持非营利架构,并指马斯克起诉的真正动机是打击竞争对手——他于2023年创立的AI公司xAI。

马斯克要求法院撤销2025年将OpenAI营利子公司转为公益公司的重组,解除奥特曼与布罗克曼的职务,并索赔高达1340亿美元。陪审团将于周一进入评议,最快下周提交不具约束力的建议性裁决,最终判决权在法官手中。

结案陈词:人格与信誉的“桥下深渊”
庭审中,莫罗以“独木桥”比喻奥特曼的诚信:“若桥头女子说‘这桥建立在萨姆·奥特曼的‘真相’之上’,你敢走吗?”坐在律师席后的奥特曼每闻己名便不安抬头。而埃迪则反驳,马斯克“从不在乎非营利结构,他只在乎赢”。值得注意的是,马斯克本人违反法官“须到庭”的命令,随特朗普总统飞往中国。

核心争议:非营利承诺是否存续?
OpenAI律师坚称,没有任何证据显示马斯克的捐款附带条件,或奥特曼曾承诺维持非营利。2017年马斯克曾试图创建营利子公司并争夺控制权,印证其从未真心支持非营利模式。但马斯克在庭上表示,直到2022年微软拟投资100亿美元时,他才意识到“营利尾巴已摇动非营利狗”。西北大学法学教授吉尔·霍维茨评论称:“无论谁胜诉,公众在非营利组织中的利益都已受损。”

意外插曲:“AI安全蠢驴”奖杯
尽管主审法官伊冯娜·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯在第一周便警告该案与AI安全无关,但相关争议贯穿庭审全程。OpenAI首席未来学家约书亚·阿希亚姆作证称,2018年马斯克因他反对“为竞速牺牲安全”而骂其“蠢驴”,同事们为纪念这一合规抗议,赠予他一座金色驴屁股奖杯。当律师试图将此作为安全承诺物证呈递时,法官脱口而出:“我不要这东西。”

局势影响:IPO进程悬于一线
若法官支持马斯克,可能颠覆OpenAI近万亿美元估值的IPO计划。与此同时,xAI预计最早于6月随马斯克旗下火箭公司SpaceX上市,目标估值达1.75万亿美元。目前,美国众议院监督委员会已就奥特曼利益冲突问题展开调查,多州总检察长呼吁证交会介入。

中文翻译:

马斯克诉奥特曼案第三周:埃隆·马斯克与山姆·奥特曼就彼此的可信度互相攻击。如今,陪审团将选择支持其中一方。
这场庭审爆出了大量内幕——关于这家AI巨头应如何治理,提出的问题远多于答案。
在马斯克诉奥特曼案的最后一周庭审中,双方律师就埃隆·马斯克和OpenAI首席执行官山姆·奥特曼的可信度展开了交锋。奥特曼被就其在涉及与OpenAI有业务往来的公司中涉嫌撒谎和从事自我交易的过往历史接受盘问。但他予以反击,将马斯克描绘成一个想要控制通用人工智能(AGI)发展的权力追逐者。
作为对人工智能安全承诺的证明,OpenAI拿出了一座金色的驴屁股奖杯,这只奖杯曾被赠予一名员工——该员工因反对马斯克急于开发AGI的计划而被骂作“蠢驴”。
双方律师还进行了结案陈词,他们在巨大的屏幕上并排展示了马斯克和奥特曼不讨喜的“大头照”风格照片。马斯克的律师史蒂文·莫洛辩称,奥特曼和OpenAI总裁格雷格·布罗克曼违背了承诺,未能将马斯克捐赠的资金用于维持OpenAI作为一家为人类利益开发人工智能的非营利组织。相反,他们创建了一个营利性子公司,使自己变得极其富有。
OpenAI的律师萨拉·埃迪辩称,奥特曼和布罗克曼从未承诺让OpenAI保持非营利性质。她补充说,尽管OpenAI已经重组,但它仍然是一家致力于安全开发人工智能的非营利组织。
她声称,马斯克起诉太晚——而且他的真实动机是破坏其自己的人工智能公司xAI的竞争对手,该公司是他于2023年创立的。
马斯克要求法院撤销2025年将OpenAI的营利性子公司转变为公益公司的重组,并免除奥特曼和布罗克曼的职务。他还向OpenAI和微软寻求高达1340亿美元的赔偿金,这些赔偿金将判给OpenAI的非营利组织。
陪审团将于周一开始审议,最早下周将给出咨询性裁决。陪审团的裁决对法官没有约束力,法官将对此案作出判决。
如果法官做出有利于马斯克的裁决,可能会打乱OpenAI在估值接近1万亿美元时进行首次公开募股的计划。与此同时,xAI预计最早将于6月作为马斯克火箭公司SpaceX的一部分上市,目标估值为1.75万亿美元。
权力追逐者马斯克,撒谎者奥特曼。
在庭审的第一周,马斯克表示,他提起诉讼是为了拯救OpenAI为人类利益安全构建人工智能的使命。本周,奥特曼否认马斯克是人工智能安全的捍卫者,并将其描绘成一个想要控制OpenAI的权力追逐者。
奥特曼告诉陪审团,2017年,当马斯克和其他联合创始人讨论创建一个营利性部门时,他们问马斯克,如果他去世了,他对这样一个实体的控制权会怎样。“也许OpenAI的控制权应该传给我的孩子们,”据奥特曼转述,马斯克当时这样说。
马斯克的律师予以反击,就奥特曼涉嫌撒谎的过往历史对他进行了盘问。他指出,OpenAI前高管伊利亚·苏茨克维和米拉·穆拉蒂,以及前董事会成员海伦·托纳和塔莎·麦考利都作证说,奥特曼曾对他们撒谎。2023年,奥特曼因涉嫌此行为曾短暂被解雇首席执行官职务。
莫洛还就奥特曼在与OpenAI有业务往来的初创公司中的个人投资进行了追问。奥特曼作证说,他曾试图引导OpenAI从核能公司Helion Energy购买电力,而这家公司他拥有三分之一股份。
(上周五,美国众议院监督委员会启动了对奥特曼潜在利益冲突的调查。来自超过六个州的司法部长呼吁美国证券交易委员会对此进行审查。)
在结案陈词中,莫洛再次质疑了奥特曼的可信度。“想象一下,你在徒步旅行时,遇到了一座在步道上常见的木桥,它横跨峡谷,”他说。“一名女子站在桥头说,‘别担心——这座桥是建立在山姆·奥特曼的真相版本之上的。’你会走过那座桥吗?”
坐在律师身后的奥特曼,每当听到自己的名字被提及时,都会不安地抬头看看。
在结案陈词中,埃迪进行了回击。马斯克“从未关心过非营利结构”,她说。“他在乎的是获胜。”
不过,马斯克没有出庭。尽管法官要求他随时待命,但他却与特朗普总统一同飞往了中国。
奥特曼是否承诺过让OpenAI保持非营利性质?
在结案陈词中,埃迪辩称,没有任何证词或证据显示马斯克的捐款附有条件,或者奥特曼和布罗克曼做出过任何让公司保持非营利性质的承诺。“没有做出任何承诺或保证。马斯克先生的捐款也没有附加任何限制,”她说。
埃迪补充说,很明显马斯克并非真正致力于让OpenAI保持非营利性质。她指出,2017年,他曾试图创建一个营利性子公司,并与奥特曼和布罗克曼就控制权展开了激烈争论。
“我并不反对存在一个为这家非营利组织提供资金的小型营利性实体,”马斯克在庭审初期告诉陪审团,“只要不是本末倒置。”
埃迪随后辩称,马斯克起诉太晚,他于2024年提起诉讼,但相关索赔的诉讼时效已过。2019年,OpenAI创建了一个营利性子公司,根据该子公司的安排,员工和投资者可获得有上限的投资回报。
但马斯克作证说,他直到2022年才发现OpenAI放弃了其非营利使命——当时微软正准备向OpenAI投资100亿美元,这项交易于2023年完成。“看到OpenAI估值达到200亿美元,我感到不安,”他在看到这则新闻后给奥特曼发短信说。“这是在挂羊头卖狗肉。”
马斯克告诉陪审团,200亿美元的估值让他意识到“这个营利性实体已经本末倒置了”。
“2023年的交易不同,”莫洛在结案陈词中反复强调这一点。
OpenAI是否仍然是致力于其使命的非营利组织?
庭审最后一周提出的一个核心问题是,OpenAI是否仍然是一家致力于为人类利益安全开发通用人工智能的非营利组织。OpenAI的律师埃迪辩称,非营利组织仍然控制着营利性实体,并致力于“让通用人工智能为人类带来好的结果”。“OpenAI非营利组织是世界上资源最丰富的非营利组织,”她补充说,这要归功于营利性实体。
莫洛反驳说,虽然OpenAI的非营利组织名义上控制着公司,但实际上并非如此。OpenAI的非营利组织和营利性组织由同一批人控制——非营利组织八名董事会成员中有七人同时在营利性组织的董事会任职。这家非营利组织仅在庭审开始前一个月才招聘了员工,并且只从事拨款工作,而非人工智能研究。
莫洛播放了一段奥特曼的视频采访,采访中奥特曼表示,非营利组织董事会在2023年未能解雇他,这本身就是“一种治理失败”。
“我们所剩的,是一个没有任何话语权的非营利组织,”西北大学研究非营利组织的法学教授吉尔·霍维茨告诉《麻省理工科技评论》。“它没有多少钱,OpenAI认为没有义务为其提供资金。它几乎没有员工,”她说。“不清楚这个非营利组织究竟该如何履行职责并控制整个公司。”
多年来,民间社会团体和政策制定者一直公开反对OpenAI的重组。马斯克也是如此,尽管他本人在这场人工智能竞赛中的利益,使他难以成为公众利益的可靠捍卫者。
“无论这场庭审谁赢谁输,非营利组织的公共利益都是输家,”霍维茨说。
为人工智能安全而做“蠢驴”
尽管美国地区法官伊冯·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯在第一周警告说,这次庭审不关乎人工智能安全,但这个问题再次抢占了风头。在整个庭审过程中,双方律师就ChatGPT(据称已导致青少年自杀)和Grok(其内容已充斥X平台色情信息)的安全记录相互指责。
在作证的最后一天,OpenAI的律师布拉德利·威尔逊递给法官一个小金驴屁股奖杯,上面刻着:“永远做一头为了安全而做‘蠢驴’。”
这只奖杯属于OpenAI的首席未来学家约书亚·阿希亚姆。他作证说,当马斯克在2018年宣布他将离开OpenAI去竞速构建通用人工智能时,他曾警告说,速度可能会危及安全。阿希亚姆说,马斯克发火了,骂他是“蠢驴”。包括现Anthropic首席执行官达里奥·阿莫代伊在内的同事们送给他这个奖杯,以纪念他的异议。
“我不想看到它,”法官说。
这场闹剧也蔓延到了大街上。在奥克兰法院门前,一名抗议者穿着打扮成马斯克的样子,拿着一袋氯胺酮,驾驶着一辆赛博皮卡四处走动。另一个人举着山姆·奥特曼的照片和一张写着“阻止通用人工智能,否则我们都得死”的海报。
深度探索
人工智能
OpenAI正全力打造完全自动化的研究员
与OpenAI首席科学家雅库布·帕霍茨基就公司的新重大挑战及人工智能未来的独家对话。
想了解人工智能的现状吗?请看这些图表。
根据斯坦福大学2026年人工智能指数,人工智能正在飞速发展,而我们正努力追赶。
当前人工智能领域值得关注的10件事
《麻省理工科技评论》对2026年人工智能领域10项技术、新兴趋势、大胆构想和强大运动的权威概述。
马斯克诉奥特曼案第一周:埃隆·马斯克称被欺骗,警告人工智能可能毁灭我们所有人,并承认xAI提炼了OpenAI的模型
马斯克保持冷静,而OpenAI的律师就他起诉该公司的动机咄咄逼人地盘问了他。
保持联系
获取来自《麻省理工科技评论》的最新动态
发现特别优惠、热门故事、即将举行的活动等更多内容。

英文来源:

Musk v. Altman week 3: Elon Musk and Sam Altman traded blows over each other’s credibility. Now the jury will pick a side.
The trial spilled plenty of dirt—and raised more questions than answers about how the AI giant should be governed.
In the final week of the Musk v. Altman trial, lawyers traded blows over Elon Musk’s and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s credibility. Altman was grilled on his alleged history of lying and self-dealing involving companies that do business with OpenAI. But he fired back, painting Musk as a power-seeker who wanted to control the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI)—powerful AI that can compete with humans on most cognitive tasks.
As evidence of their commitment to AI safety, OpenAI brought out a golden trophy of a donkey’s ass that was gifted to an employee after he was called a “jackass” for standing up to Musk’s plans to race toward AGI.
Lawyers for both sides also presented their closing arguments, floating unflattering mugshot-style photos of Musk and Altman next to each other on a giant screen. Musk’s lawyer Steven Molo argued that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman broke their promise to use money Musk donated to maintain OpenAI as a nonprofit that develops AI for the benefit of humanity. Instead, they created a for-profit subsidiary that made them extraordinarily wealthy.
OpenAI’s lawyer Sarah Eddy argued that Altman and Brockman never promised to keep OpenAI a nonprofit. She added that even though it’s been restructured, OpenAI remains a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI safely.
She claimed that Musk sued too late—and that his real motive is to sabotage a competitor to his own AI company, xAI, which he launched in 2023.
Musk is asking the court to unwind the 2025 restructuring that converted OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary into a public benefit corporation and to remove Altman and Brockman from their roles. He is also seeking as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, to be awarded to OpenAI’s nonprofit.
The jury will begin deliberating on Monday and deliver an advisory verdict as soon as next week. The jury verdict is not binding on the judge, who will decide the case.
If the judge rules in Musk’s favor, it could upend OpenAI’s race toward an IPO at a valuation approaching $1 trillion. Meanwhile, xAI is expected to go public as a part of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX as early as June, at a target valuation of $1.75 trillion.
Musk the power-seeker, Altman the liar.
In the first week of the trial, Musk said he was suing to save OpenAI’s mission to build AI safely for the benefit of humanity. This week, Altman denied Musk was a paladin of AI safety and painted him as a power-seeker who wanted to control OpenAI.
Altman told the jury that in 2017, when Musk and other cofounders were discussing creating a for-profit arm, they asked Musk what would happen to his control over such an entity if he died. “Maybe the control of OpenAI should pass to my children,” Musk said, according to Altman.
Musk’s lawyer shot back, grilling Altman on his alleged history of lying. He pointed out that OpenAI’s former executives Ilya Sutskever and Mira Murati, and former board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, all testified that Altman had lied to them. In 2023, Altman was briefly fired as CEO over the alleged behavior.
Molo also pressed Altman about his personal investments in startups that do business with OpenAI. Altman testified that he tried to steer OpenAI to buying power from the nuclear energy company Helion Energy, a third of which he owns.
(Last Friday, the US House oversight committee launched an investigation into Altman’s potential conflicts of interest. Attorneys general from more than a half-dozen states called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to review them.)
During his closing statement, Molo put Altman’s credibility on the stand again. “Imagine that you’re on a hike, and you come upon one of those wooden bridges that you see on a trail, and it’s over a gorge,” he said. “A woman standing by the entry to the bridge says, ‘Don’t worry—the bridge is built on Sam Altman’s version of the truth.’ Would you walk across that bridge?”
Altman, who sat behind his lawyers, looked up uneasily every time his name was mentioned.
During her closing argument, Eddy fired back. Musk “never cared about the nonprofit structure,” she said. “What he cared about was winning."
Musk, though, was absent. Despite the judge’s order that he remain available, he flew to China with President Trump.
Did Altman promise to keep OpenAI a nonprofit?
During her closing argument, Eddy argued that no testimony or evidence showed any conditions on Musk’s donations, or any promises made by Altman and Brockman to keep the company a nonprofit. “No commitments or promises were made. No restrictions were placed on Mr. Musk’s donations,” she said.
Eddy added that it was evident Musk wasn’t truly committed to keeping OpenAI a nonprofit. She noted that in 2017, he tried to create a for-profit subsidiary and fought a bitter battle with Altman and Brockman to have control over it.
“I was not opposed to there being a small for-profit that provides funding to the nonprofit,” Musk told the jury earlier in the trial, “as long as the tail didn’t wag the dog.”
Eddy then argued that Musk sued too late, filing in 2024 after the statutes of limitations on his claims ran out. In 2019, OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary, under which employees and investors received a capped return on their investment.
But Musk testified that he discovered OpenAI had abandoned its nonprofit mission only in 2022, when Microsoft was preparing to invest $10 billion in OpenAI—a deal that closed in 2023. “I was disturbed to see OpenAI with a $20B valuation,” he texted Altman after reading the news. “This is a bait and switch.”
Musk told the jury that the $20 billion valuation made him realize “the for-profit is the tail wagging the dog.”
“The 2023 deal was different,” Molo hammered home during his closing argument.
Is OpenAI still a nonprofit committed to its mission?
A central question raised in the last week of trial was whether OpenAI remains a nonprofit committed to developing AGI safely for the benefit of humanity. Eddy, the OpenAI lawyer, argued that the nonprofit still controls the for-profit and seeks to “help AGI turn out well for humanity.” “The OpenAI nonprofit is the best-resourced nonprofit in the world,” thanks to the for-profit, she added.
Molo countered that while the OpenAI’s nonprofit nominally controls the company, it does not do so in practice. OpenAI’s nonprofit and for-profit are controlled by the same people—seven of the nonprofit’s eight board members are on the for-profit’s board. The nonprofit hired employees only a month before the trial started and does work only in grant-making rather than AI research.
Molo played a video interview of Altman saying that the nonprofit board’s failure to fire him in 2023 was “its own kind of governance failure."
“We’re left with this nonprofit that doesn’t have any voice,” Jill Horwitz, a law professor at Northwestern University who studies nonprofits, told MIT Technology Review. “It doesn’t have much money, and OpenAI doesn’t think it has any obligation to fund it. It barely has a staff,” she says. “It’s unclear how on earth the nonprofit is supposed to exercise its duties and control the entire company.”
Civil society groups and policymakers have spoken out against OpenAI’s restructuring over the years. So has Musk, although his own stake in the AI race makes him a dubious champion for the public interest.
“The public interest in the nonprofit loses, no matter who wins or loses this trial,” says Horwitz.
Jackass for AI safety
Despite US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’s warning during the first week that this trial was not about AI safety, the issue stole the show again. Throughout the trial, the lawyers from both sides traded barbs over the safety track records of ChatGPT (which has allegedly caused teen suicides) and Grok (which has flooded X with porn).
On the last day of testimony, OpenAI’s lawyer Bradley Wilson handed the judge a small golden trophy of a donkey’s ass, inscribed: “Never stop being a jackass for safety.”
The trophy belonged to Joshua Achiam, OpenAI’s chief futurist. He testified that he’d warned, when Musk announced in 2018 that he was leaving OpenAI to race toward building AGI, that speed could compromise safety. Musk snapped and called him a “jackass,” said Achiam. His colleagues, including Dario Amodei, now CEO of Anthropic, gave him the trophy to enshrine the diss.
“I don’t want it,” said the judge.
The shenanigans spilled out into the street too. In front of the Oakland courthouse, a protester paraded around wearing a costume of Musk holding a bag of ketamine and driving a Cybertruck. Another held a photo of Sam Altman and a poster reading, “Stop AGI or we’re all gonna die.”
Deep Dive
Artificial intelligence
OpenAI is throwing everything into building a fully automated researcher
An exclusive conversation with OpenAI’s chief scientist, Jakub Pachocki, about his firm's new grand challenge and the future of AI.
Want to understand the current state of AI? Check out these charts.
According to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, AI is sprinting, and we’re struggling to keep up.
10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now
MIT Technology Review's authoritative overview of the 10 technologies, emerging trends, bold ideas, and powerful movements in AI in 2026.
Musk v. Altman week 1: Elon Musk says he was duped, warns AI could kill us all, and admits that xAI distills OpenAI’s models
Musk kept his cool, and OpenAI’s lawyer bulldozed him with piercing questions about his motivations for suing the company.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

MIT科技评论

文章目录


    扫描二维码,在手机上阅读