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It's probably been some time since Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have shared the same space.
This week, the two tech titans -- former friends turned bitter rivals -- sat in the same federal courtroom. Members of the press and curious civilians, some Musk fans among them, queued up at sunrise to get one of the coveted Oakland courtroom seats. The less fortunate sat on the floor in an overflow room.
Musk is suing OpenAI and Altman, saying they "stole a charity." He alleges OpenAI took $38 million in donations when it was founded as a nonprofit, then used it to convert into a for-profit company. OpenAI said that Musk was aware of the for-profit conversion and even supported it.
This past week, the world's richest man tried to be a sympathetic witness. Looking right at the jury, Musk said we could risk "losing every charity in America" if he were to lose this case. Altman's lawyers objected, and the judge broke in to remind the jurors that this was Musk's opinion and had "no legal value whatsoever."
While on the witness stand, Musk focused mostly on the jury and the attorneys at the lectern. Altman, seated at the front bench behind the defendants' table, directed his gaze right at Musk. From time to time, he'd scribble in a small spiral notebook.
Altman's time in the spotlight is coming up soon.
People everywhere are spinning up dashboards to "monitor the situation." Which situation, you ask? Any they can think of.
They're sharing these real-time info websites to track geopolitical conflicts, prediction markets and natural disasters -- sometimes all of the above. The dashboards look like sci-fi-style command centers, with self-updating maps, charts and news feeds.
Like any other pursuit worth doing, vibe coding isn't without some frustration. But getting started is easy and the upside is high. Here's how -- and why -- you should give it a try.
The lore of Sam Altman is being tested.
He was such a natural-born winner that the legendary Silicon Valley investor Paul Graham once said about Altman: "You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in five years and he'd be the king."
Now, the cannibals are at the gate.
John Wall has spent nearly his entire career working for the same company. And when he tells people where he works, nobody has any clue what he's talking about.
"If I tell them I work at QNX," he said, "they don't know what that means."
But once he explains that he technically works at the company that owns QNX, he knows exactly how they will respond: BlackBerry still exists? Yes, it does. And no, it doesn’t make phones.
Like any corporate chief financial officer, Sarah Friar must translate her CEO's grandest ambitions into something the company can actually afford -- and know the right time to say no. She follows a line of women in Silicon Valley asked to tame the wilder impulses of companies -- or their younger male founders.
A recent Florida State shooting is one of at least two known instances in just over a year in which mass shooting suspects have turned to AI chatbots as confidants or sounding boards to plan attacks.
The carnage is sparking lawsuits, criminal inquiries by law enforcement and internal debate inside AI companies over a question Silicon Valley is struggling to answer: When a chatbot appears to be helping plan violence, who intervenes -- and how fast?
Amazon's Apprentice? Amazon is discussing a potential reboot of "The Apprentice," the reality TV show that once starred Donald Trump and propelled him to national fame.
Mythos Stalled: The White House opposes a plan from Anthropic to expand access to its powerful artificial-intelligence model Mythos, complicating the rollout of an AI tool capable of carrying out cyberattacks and sowing widespread disruptions online.
Earnings Gold: Big tech companies are starting to strike gold with AI, but investors are still wringing their hands over the multibillion-dollar bets on data centers and chips.
Stock Slump: Mark Zuckerberg offered fresh details on Meta's aggressive AI plans and addressed the market's negative reaction to its earnings in a company meeting Thursday.
When even seasoned travelers are scammed by imposters using online search ads.
The Technology newsletter is a weekly digest of tech reviews, columns and headlines from Deputy Tech & Media Editor Wilson Rothman and Deputy Tech Bureau Chief Brad Olson.