Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI
Elon Musk has lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI
埃隆·马斯克针对萨姆·奥特曼及 OpenAI 的诉讼败诉
Elon Musk’s claim that he was mistreated by his OpenAI co-founders failed after nine California jurors returned a unanimous verdict that his lawsuits had been filed too late. Musk accused Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI, and Microsoft of “stealing a charity” by creating a for-profit affiliate of the frontier AI lab. Jurors, however, found that any harms that Musk may have suffered came before the deadline for filing his claims under the law.
埃隆·马斯克声称自己受到 OpenAI 联合创始人不公正对待的指控宣告失败。加州九名陪审员一致裁定，马斯克的诉讼提起时间已超过法律时效。马斯克曾指控萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）、格雷格·布罗克曼（Greg Brockman）、OpenAI 以及微软通过为这家前沿 AI 实验室创建营利性附属机构，“窃取了一家慈善机构”。然而，陪审团认定，马斯克所遭受的任何损害均发生在法律规定的诉讼时效截止日期之前。
While the trial delved deeply into the melodramatic history of OpenAI and featured testimony from leading figures in Silicon Valley, it ultimately turned on fairly narrow questions of the law. The trial focused on whether and when Altman and the other defendants had made and broken promises to Musk, but his case failed to convince jurors that he had a valid claim. In particular, OpenAI had advanced a statute of limitations defense, which sought to prove that any harms Musk sought to litigate had taken place before 2021. (The specific date varied by the charge: before August 5, 2021, for the first count; August 5, 2022, for the second count; and November 14, 2021, for the third count.) Ultimately, the jury found that argument persuasive, which made for a short deliberation period.
尽管庭审深入探讨了 OpenAI 充满戏剧性的历史，并听取了硅谷多位领军人物的证词，但最终案件的焦点仅限于狭义的法律问题。庭审重点在于奥特曼及其他被告是否曾向马斯克做出承诺并违背承诺，但马斯克的诉讼未能说服陪审团相信其主张成立。特别是 OpenAI 提出的诉讼时效抗辩，旨在证明马斯克试图诉讼的任何损害均发生在 2021 年之前。（具体日期因指控而异：第一项指控为 2021 年 8 月 5 日前；第二项为 2022 年 8 月 5 日前；第三项为 2021 年 11 月 14 日前。）最终，陪审团采纳了这一论点，使得审议过程非常短暂。
“There was a substantial amount of evidence to support the jury’s finding, which is why I was prepared to dismiss on the spot,” Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said after the verdict was delivered. The end of the case means that one major threat to OpenAI — a possible restructuring — is now off the table ahead of its reported IPO.
“有大量证据支持陪审团的裁决，这就是为什么我准备当场驳回诉讼，”伊冯·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯（Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers）法官在裁决宣布后表示。此案的终结意味着 OpenAI 在传闻中的首次公开募股（IPO）之前，面临的一大威胁——即可能的重组——现已排除。
“It did not take [the jury] two hours to conclude … that Mr. Musk’s lawsuit is nothing more than an after-the-fact contrivance that bears no relationship to reality,” OpenAI’s lead attorney, Bill Savitt, said after the verdict. “They kicked it exactly where it belongs — just to the side. This lawsuit is a hypocritical attempt to sabotage a competitor.”
“（陪审团）甚至没花两个小时就得出结论……马斯克先生的诉讼不过是事后捏造，与事实毫无关联，”OpenAI 的首席律师比尔·萨维特（Bill Savitt）在裁决后说道。“他们将其踢到了该去的地方——一边去。这场诉讼是破坏竞争对手的虚伪企图。”
Microsoft, which Musk sued for aiding and abetting OpenAI’s alleged breach of charitable trust, welcomed the verdict. A spokesperson for the company said it “remained committed to our work with OpenAI to advance and scale AI for people and organizations around the world.”
微软此前被马斯克起诉协助和教唆 OpenAI 涉嫌违反慈善信托，该公司对裁决表示欢迎。微软发言人表示，公司“仍致力于与 OpenAI 合作，为全球个人和组织推进并扩展人工智能技术。”
The verdict came in the middle of a hearing to determine the potential damages to Musk if the verdict had gone the other way. While that discussion is moot for now, the judge appeared unconvinced by the analogy Musk’s lawyers drew between his charitable contributions and investments in a for-profit startup. “Your analysis seems to be devoid of connection to the underlying facts,” she told Dr. C. Paul Wazzan, the expert who came up with Musk’s estimate of OpenAI and Microsoft’s wrongful gains at his expense — some $78.8 billion to $135 billion.
裁决是在一场旨在确定如果判决结果相反、马斯克可能获得的潜在赔偿额的听证会期间做出的。虽然该讨论目前已无意义，但法官似乎并不认同马斯克律师将他的慈善捐款与营利性初创企业投资进行类比的观点。“你的分析似乎与基本事实脱节，”她对 C. Paul Wazzan 博士说道。该专家曾估算马斯克因 OpenAI 和微软的不当获利而遭受的损失，金额在 788 亿至 1350 亿美元之间。
In a tweet after the ruling, Musk appeared to take the procedural grounds of the dismissal as a moral victory. “There is no question to anyone following the case in detail that Altman & Brockman did in fact enrich themselves by stealing a charity. The only question is WHEN they did it!” Musk wrote. “I will be filing an appeal with the Ninth Circuit, because creating a precedent to loot charities is incredibly destructive to charitable giving in America.”
裁决后，马斯克在推特上发文，似乎将驳回诉讼的程序性理由视为一种道德上的胜利。“任何详细关注此案的人都毫无疑问，奥特曼和布罗克曼确实通过窃取慈善机构中饱私囊。唯一的问题是他们是什么时候做的！”马斯克写道。“我将向第九巡回法院提起上诉，因为开创掠夺慈善机构的先例对美国的慈善捐赠具有极大的破坏性。”
Reached for comment by TechCrunch, Musk’s lead counsel, Marc Toberoff, said, “One word: Appeal.”
在接受 TechCrunch 采访时，马斯克的首席律师马克·托贝罗夫（Marc Toberoff）表示：“只有一个词：上诉。”