Elon Musk Loses Landmark Lawsuit Against OpenAI
Elon Musk Loses Landmark Lawsuit Against OpenAI
埃隆·马斯克在针对 OpenAI 的里程碑式诉讼中败诉
Elon Musk suffered the worst defeat possible in his legal battle against OpenAI as a federal jury and a judge ruled he waited too long to bring his claims against the AI startup and its top executives, Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. 埃隆·马斯克在针对 OpenAI 的法律诉讼中遭遇了最惨痛的失败。联邦陪审团和法官裁定，他在针对这家人工智能初创公司及其高管萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）和格雷格·布罗克曼（Greg Brockman）提起诉讼时，已经错过了诉讼时效。
While the jury’s decision was a nonbinding recommendation sent to US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, she immediately accepted it as her own, making it final. 虽然陪审团的裁决只是提交给美国地方法官伊冯·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯（Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers）的一项非约束性建议，但她立即采纳了该建议，使其成为最终判决。
Musk’s lead trial attorney, Steven Molo, told the judge, “Our intention is to appeal.” 马斯克的首席出庭律师史蒂文·莫洛（Steven Molo）告诉法官：“我们打算上诉。”
One of his other attorneys, Marc Toberoff, gave a one-word comment to reporters walking out of the courtroom: “Appeal.” He later said the verdict reminded him of American Revolutionary War moments like the Siege of Charleston and the Battle of Bunker Hill. “These were major losses for Americans, but who won the war?” Toberoff said. “And this one is not over.” 他的另一位律师马克·托贝罗夫（Marc Toberoff）在走出法庭时对记者只说了一个词：“上诉”。他后来表示，这一判决让他想起了美国独立战争时期的查尔斯顿围城战和邦克山战役。“这些对美国人来说都是重大的失败，但最终谁赢得了战争？”托贝罗夫说，“这场官司还没结束。”
OpenAI’s attorneys hugged in the courtroom after the verdict was read. William Savitt, the company’s lead litigator, told reporters that the “overwhelming” amount of evidence presented in the case allowed the jury to act quickly. “The evidence that Mr. Musk’s lawsuit was an after-the-fact contrivance by a competitor was的市场竞争对手的虚构之作，证据是压倒性的，”他说。
Throughout the trial, Gonzalez Rogers questioned Musk’s motivation for fighting OpenAI. But she concluded on Monday that the three-week global public spectacle had been worthwhile. 在整个审判过程中，冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯质疑了马斯克对抗 OpenAI 的动机。但她在周一总结称，这场为期三周、引发全球关注的公开审判是值得的。
“I thought it was an important issue to be tried … for us to have a trial to bring clarity,” she told attorneys for both parties. “There’s a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s findings, which is why I was prepared to accept the jury’s findings and dismiss on the spot.” “我认为这是一个值得审理的重要议题……我们需要通过审判来厘清事实，”她对双方律师表示。“有大量的证据支持陪审团的裁定，这就是为什么我准备接受陪审团的结论并当场驳回诉讼。”
The nine-member panel delivered the unanimous verdict in an Oakland, California, courtroom on Monday after deliberating for under two hours. They found that statutes of limitations expired well before Musk filed his lawsuit in 2024. Musk had hoped to persuade the jury that Altman and Brockman, with the help of Microsoft’s cash, transformed OpenAI into an enormous company well beyond what was envisioned when the three of them and others founded it as a nonprofit nearly 11 years ago. 周一，由九人组成的陪审团在加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的法庭上经过不到两个小时的审议，作出了全体一致的裁决。他们认定，在马斯克于 2024 年提起诉讼之前，诉讼时效早已过期。马斯克曾希望说服陪审团相信，奥特曼和布罗克曼在微软资金的帮助下，将 OpenAI 变成了一家规模庞大的公司，这远远超出了近 11 年前他们三人及其他人将其创立为非营利组织时的初衷。
Because the jury found the case wasn’t filed on time, it didn’t weigh in on Musk’s three claims, including breach of charitable trust, unjust enrichment, and, against Microsoft, aiding and abetting. Losing on what amounts to a technicality could provide Musk an opening to keep trying his case in the public by arguing that the jury never ruled against his core argument that a charity was stolen. 由于陪审团认定该案未在规定时间内提起，因此并未对马斯克的三项指控进行裁决，其中包括违反慈善信托、不当得利，以及针对微软的协助与教唆罪。因技术性原因败诉可能会给马斯克留下一个机会，让他继续在公众面前辩称陪审团从未否决他的核心论点——即一个慈善机构被窃取了。
Savitt, the OpenAI lawyer, disputed that contention on Monday. “It’s not a technical decision, it’s a substantive one,” he said. “It says you brought your claims too late, and you did it because you were sitting on them to use them as a weapon of a competitor who can’t compete in the marketplace, and so we’re delighted with the outcome.” OpenAI 的律师萨维特（Savitt）在周一反驳了这一说法。“这不是一个技术性决定，而是一个实质性决定，”他说。“它说明你提起诉讼太晚了，而且你这样做是因为你一直隐忍不发，将其作为无法在市场上竞争的竞争对手的武器，所以我们对这个结果感到高兴。”
Microsoft spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement that the “facts and the timeline in this case have long been clear” and the tech giant remains “committed to our work with OpenAI to advance and scale AI.” 微软发言人亚历克斯·豪雷克（Alex Haurek）在一份声明中表示，该案的“事实和时间线早已明确”，这家科技巨头仍然“致力于与 OpenAI 合作，以推进和扩展人工智能”。
In posts on X, Musk called Gonzalez Rogers an “activist” judge “who simply used the jury as a fig leaf” and ruled on a “calendar technicality.” While the judge’s ruling doesn’t create a formal legal precedent, Musk claimed that, “She just handed out a free license to loot charities if you can keep the looting quiet for a few years!” He added in a separate post, “There is no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity.” 在 X 平台上的帖子中，马斯克称冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯是一位“激进派”法官，“她只是把陪审团当作遮羞布”，并基于“日历上的技术细节”做出裁决。虽然法官的裁决并未形成正式的法律先例，但马斯克声称：“她刚刚发放了一张免费许可证，只要你能把掠夺行为隐瞒几年，就可以随意掠夺慈善机构！”他在另一篇帖子中补充道：“对于任何详细关注此案的人来说，毫无疑问，奥特曼和布罗克曼确实通过窃取一个慈善机构中饱私囊。”
Despite the disappointing result for Musk, the trial appears to have tarnished the public image of OpenAI and its top executives. New details emerged about Brockman’s wealth and Altman’s alleged history of dishonesty. Both were also pulled away from their day-to-day work for tens, if not hundreds, of hours to conduct depositions, prepare to testify, sit on the witness stand, and show face in court. 尽管对马斯克来说结果令人失望，但这次审判似乎损害了 OpenAI 及其高管的公众形象。关于布罗克曼的财富和奥特曼涉嫌不诚实的历史，新的细节浮出水面。两人也被迫从日常工作中抽身，花费了数十甚至数百小时进行取证、准备作证、出庭作证并出席法庭。
Musk spent much less time in the courtroom than the OpenAI executives, about three days before never returning again. He even flew to China for President Donald Trump’s state visit last week, though he technically could have been called to testify again on short notice. “I will say that it was a surprise to us to see that,” Savitt told the media last week. “Instead of being in the jurisdiction where he filed the lawsuit, ready to come in front of the jurors who he has caused to be impaneled, [he] decided to get on Air Force One and go to China.” 马斯克在法庭上花费的时间远少于 OpenAI 的高管，他在出庭约三天后就再也没有回来。上周，他甚至飞往中国参加唐纳德·特朗普总统的国事访问，尽管从技术上讲，他随时可能被传唤再次作证。“我不得不说，看到这一点让我们感到惊讶，”萨维特上周告诉媒体。“他没有留在提起诉讼的司法管辖区，准备面对他要求组建的陪审团，而是决定登上空军一号前往中国。”
Though the case carried financial and emotional stakes, it was also a competition of bravado between two tech billionaires who broke up a brief partnership of convenience over an alleged leadership dispute, only to end up pursuing remarkably similar visions about the future of generative AI. Musk’s bid to settle the lawsuit just before the trial started was rebuffed. 虽然此案涉及经济和情感利益，但它也是两位科技亿万富翁之间的一场虚张声势的较量。他们曾因所谓的领导权纠纷而结束了短暂的利益合作，最终却都在追求关于生成式人工智能未来的极其相似的愿景。马斯克在审判开始前试图和解的提议遭到了拒绝。
12-Day Trial 12 天的审判 Over the 12 days of the trial, attorneys for OpenAI repeatedly pointed to what they said was a lack of evidence corroborating Musk’s version of events. 在 12 天的审判过程中，OpenAI 的律师多次指出，马斯克的说法缺乏证据支持。
Musk, the famously temperamental serial entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, and Altman, then a 30-year-old startup founder turned investor, cofounded OpenAI as a nonprofit because they believed it would help them claim the “moral high ground” over their biggest competitor, Google. As a nonprofit, OpenAI could focus on keeping AI from destroying humanity without having to concentrate on maximizing value for shareholders. Musk and Altman believed that mission-driven approach would help the organization attract top researchers and win public support. 马斯克是特斯拉和 SpaceX 背后的知名且脾气火爆的连续创业者，而奥特曼当时是一位 30 岁的初创公司创始人兼投资者。他们共同创立了非营利组织 OpenAI，因为他们相信这将有助于他们在面对最大竞争对手谷歌时占据“道德制高点”。作为非营利组织，OpenAI 可以专注于防止人工智能毁灭人类，而不必专注于为股东实现价值最大化。马斯克和奥特曼认为，这种使命驱动的方法将有助于该组织吸引顶尖研究人员并赢得公众支持。
But time would show that they misjudged the fundraising challenges that the nonprofit structure would pose, as well as the amount of money they would need to develop so-called artificial general intelligence. 但时间证明，他们误判了非营利结构带来的筹款挑战，以及开发所谓通用人工智能所需的资金规模。
In his lawsuit, Musk alleged that the $38 million he donated to OpenAI from 2016 through 2020 had been misused because Altman and Brockm… 在诉讼中，马斯克指控他在 2016 年至 2020 年间捐赠给 OpenAI 的 3800 万美元被滥用，因为奥特曼和布罗克曼……