Musk’s “World War III” threat in Twitter lawsuit haunts him at OpenAI trial
Musk’s “World War III” threat in Twitter lawsuit haunts him at OpenAI trial
马斯克在推特诉讼中的“第三次世界大战”威胁，如今成了他 OpenAI 庭审的梦魇
Just days before the trial started, Elon Musk tried to settle his lawsuit, which alleges that under Sam Altman’s direction, OpenAI abandoned its mission to serve as a nonprofit making AI to benefit humanity. 在庭审开始前几天，埃隆·马斯克曾试图和解他的诉讼。该诉讼指控 OpenAI 在萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）的领导下，背离了其作为非营利组织开发造福人类的 AI 的使命。
According to a Sunday court filing from OpenAI, Musk messaged OpenAI President Greg Brockman two days ahead of the trial to “gauge interest” in a possible settlement. Brockman promptly responded, suggesting that “both sides” drop their claims. But Musk refused, then appeared to grow threatening enough that the court may allow Brockman to testify on the message as evidence supposedly revealing Musk’s true motives for pursuing the litigation. 根据 OpenAI 周日提交的一份法庭文件，马斯克在庭审前两天给 OpenAI 总裁格雷格·布罗克曼（Greg Brockman）发了信息，试图“试探”和解的可能性。布罗克曼迅速回应，建议“双方”撤诉。但马斯克拒绝了，随后表现出的威胁性足以让法庭允许布罗克曼就该信息出庭作证，作为揭露马斯克提起诉讼真实动机的证据。
“By the end of this week, you and Sam will be the most hated men in America,” Musk responded to Brockman’s suggestion that all claims be dropped. “If you insist, so it will be.” OpenAI clearly did not accept the settlement terms, as the trial started last week with Musk as the first witness. “到本周末，你和萨姆将成为美国最令人憎恨的人，”马斯克在回应布罗克曼关于双方撤诉的建议时写道，“如果你坚持，那就这样吧。” OpenAI 显然没有接受和解条款，庭审于上周开始，马斯克作为第一位证人出庭。
On the stand, Musk stumbled several times, perhaps weakening his case by making concessions, growing hot-tempered, backing off claims that AI risks may quickly become existential, and admitting his ignorance when it comes to AI safety at his own company, xAI. If admitted, his alleged threat could become his next big stumble, as Brockman—whom Musk also wants out at OpenAI—will be allowed to testify about the message when he takes the stand, likely today and tomorrow. 在证人席上，马斯克多次语塞，通过让步、情绪失控、收回关于 AI 风险可能迅速演变为生存威胁的言论，以及承认自己对自家公司 xAI 的 AI 安全问题一无所知，削弱了自己的立场。如果该证据被采纳，他所谓的威胁可能成为他的下一个重大失误，因为布罗克曼——马斯克也希望他离开 OpenAI——将在出庭作证时就该信息进行陈述，时间可能在今天或明天。
Typically, communications during proposed settlements aren’t admissible, but likely extra-frustrating to Musk, OpenAI pointed to an exception made during Musk’s failed lawsuit attempting to back out of his Twitter purchase. In that 2022 case, Musk’s legal team invited a “renegotiation” of the Twitter purchase price “so that the lawsuit could be dropped,” while threatening that “it would be World War III until the end of time for real” for Twitter leaders and “their heirs,” if Musk was forced to buy Twitter at a price Musk set based on a 420 joke. 通常情况下，和解谈判期间的沟通内容不可作为呈堂证供，但令马斯克格外沮丧的是，OpenAI 指出了马斯克在试图退出推特收购案的失败诉讼中曾出现过的一个例外。在那起 2022 年的案件中，马斯克的法律团队曾提议“重新谈判”推特收购价格以“撤销诉讼”，同时威胁称，如果马斯克被迫以他基于“420”笑话设定的价格收购推特，那么对于推特领导层及其“继承人”来说，“这将是真正的、永无止境的第三次世界大战”。
During that exchange, Musk also supposedly tried to make Twitter executives uncomfortable by reminding them that if he “ends up owning this thing, he’ll have access to all of the company’s records and he could look at everyone’s emails and dig into whatever he wanted to dig into.” That exchange ended up being admissible because Musk’s legal team intended to disclose the threat to opposing counsel. 在那次沟通中，马斯克还试图让推特高管感到不安，提醒他们如果他“最终拥有了这家公司，他将能访问公司所有的记录，可以查看每个人的电子邮件，并挖掘他想挖掘的任何东西。”那次沟通最终被法庭采纳，因为马斯克的法律团队当时有意向对方律师披露这一威胁。
OpenAI suggested that Musk’s message to Brockman should similarly not be viewed as privileged or a sincere effort to settle the litigation because it’s “coercive rather than conciliatory.” OpenAI alleged that the threat was in line with “similar menacing statements” Musk has made throughout the litigation, which they claim is little more than a harassment campaign attempting to eject Altman due to Musk’s personal grudge against the OpenAI CEO. OpenAI 认为，马斯克发给布罗克曼的信息同样不应被视为享有特权或真诚的和解努力，因为它具有“强制性而非调解性”。OpenAI 指控称，这种威胁与马斯克在整个诉讼过程中发表的“类似恐吓言论”如出一辙，他们声称这不过是一场骚扰运动，旨在利用马斯克对 OpenAI CEO 的个人恩怨将其赶走。
As OpenAI has alleged, Musk’s message should be admitted because it “tends to prove motive and bias,” specifically proving that “Musk’s motivation in pursuing this lawsuit is to attack a competitor and its principals.” For Musk, the attempt to get his message to Brockman admitted is probably yet another unwelcome flashback to the Twitter case he lost. 正如 OpenAI 所指控的那样，马斯克的信息应被采纳，因为它“有助于证明动机和偏见”，具体证明了“马斯克提起诉讼的动机是为了攻击竞争对手及其负责人。”对于马斯克来说，试图让发给布罗克曼的信息被采纳，可能又是他那场失败的推特官司带来的又一次不愉快的闪回。
However, it seems unlikely that it wouldn’t come up, since OpenAI’s lawyer who grilled Musk on the stand, William Savitt, was on Musk’s legal team when he tried to back out of buying Twitter. Savitt’s memory of that “World War III” threat was likely fresh at the moment when the message to Brockman was delivered. 然而，这件事似乎不太可能被掩盖，因为在证人席上盘问马斯克的 OpenAI 律师威廉·萨维特（William Savitt），正是马斯克试图退出推特收购案时其法律团队的成员。当马斯克向布罗克曼发送那条信息时，萨维特对那场“第三次世界大战”威胁的记忆很可能还记忆犹新。
Whether Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will admit the email has yet to be determined, but she will probably have to decide today, ahead of Brockman’s testimony starting. Musk’s lawyers are likely hoping the judge rejects OpenAI’s arguments and strictly adheres to precedent requiring that communications during settlement negotiations aren’t admissible, since allowing it could cloud sincere settlement negotiations in the future. 伊冯·冈萨雷斯·罗杰斯（Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers）法官是否会采纳这封邮件尚待确定，但她很可能需要在今天布罗克曼开始作证之前做出决定。马斯克的律师们很可能希望法官驳回 OpenAI 的论点，并严格遵守和解谈判期间的沟通内容不可作为证据的先例，因为一旦允许采纳，可能会给未来的真诚和解谈判蒙上阴影。