Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: What it was like in the room
Week one of the Musk v. Altman trial: What it was like in the room
马斯克诉奥特曼案第一周：庭审现场纪实
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Two of the most powerful people in AI—Sam Altman and Elon Musk—began their face-off in court in Oakland, California, last week. Musk is suing OpenAI, alleging that the millions he spent to fund it around a decade ago were meant for a nonprofit, not a corporation, and that the company has reneged on that mission since. 上周，AI 领域最有权势的两个人——萨姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）和埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）——在加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的法庭上开始了正面交锋。马斯克起诉 OpenAI，声称他十年前投入的数百万美元资金本意是资助一家非营利组织，而非营利性公司，并指责该公司此后背弃了这一使命。
The stakes are high—even a partial win for Musk could set OpenAI back as it reportedly plans to go public this year. But most of the attention comes from the spectacle of a feud on X now playing out in federal court. “Cringey texts, raw diary entries, and endless scheming behind the founding and growth of OpenAI are expected to come to light,” my colleague Michelle Kim wrote before it began. 此案影响重大——即便马斯克仅获得部分胜诉，也可能阻碍 OpenAI 据传将于今年进行的上市计划。但大部分关注点源于这场在 X（原推特）上公开的恩怨如今演变成了联邦法庭上的闹剧。我的同事米歇尔·金（Michelle Kim）在庭审开始前写道：“关于 OpenAI 创立和成长过程中那些令人尴尬的短信、原始日记条目以及无休止的阴谋，预计都将公之于众。”
And the trial unfolds as the cultural backlash against AI swells; some of the signs held by protesters outside the courthouse suggest that to a significant number of people, whatever the outcome of Musk v. Altman, we all lose. Most of us have had to observe the trial from afar, but Michelle, who also happens to be a lawyer, has been in court each day. I caught up with her to learn what’s unfolded thus far and what might come next. 此次庭审正值社会对 AI 的抵制情绪高涨之际；法院外抗议者举着的一些标语暗示，对相当多的人来说，无论马斯克诉奥特曼案结果如何，我们都是输家。我们大多数人只能从远处观察这场审判，但恰好也是律师的米歇尔每天都在法庭现场。我采访了她，以了解目前的情况以及未来可能的发展。
Can you give us the overview of what this case is actually about? What exactly is being decided, and who is favored right now? 你能为我们概述一下这个案件的核心内容吗？究竟在裁决什么，目前谁更有优势？
Elon Musk is arguing that Sam Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman have breached the company’s charitable trust by effectively converting OpenAI into a for-profit company. Musk alleges that is not what they promised him in the company’s early days. He has asked for several remedies, like a crazy amount of damages and removing Sam Altman. But the main remedy he wants is unwinding OpenAI’s restructuring. 埃隆·马斯克认为，萨姆·奥特曼和 OpenAI 总裁格雷格·布罗克曼（Greg Brockman）通过将 OpenAI 实际上转变为一家营利性公司，违反了公司的慈善信托义务。马斯克声称，这并非他们在公司成立初期向他承诺的内容。他提出了多项补救措施，例如巨额赔偿金以及罢免萨姆·奥特曼。但他最主要的诉求是撤销 OpenAI 的重组。
[In October 2025 OpenAI struck deals with the attorneys general of California and Delaware that would essentially allow its nonprofit portion to have less day-to-day control of OpenAI. It’s a compromise from what OpenAI originally proposed, but Musk still wants to stop it.] [2025 年 10 月，OpenAI 与加利福尼亚州和特拉华州的总检察长达成协议，实质上允许其非营利部门减少对 OpenAI 日常运营的控制。这虽然是 OpenAI 最初提议的一种妥协方案，但马斯克仍希望阻止它。]
OpenAI argues that Elon Musk actually agreed to have the company operate a for-profit arm, because he knew building AI is very expensive. So it’s about proving what Musk knew, what he didn’t know, and whether he really was deceived by Altman and Brockman. OpenAI 则辩称，埃隆·马斯克实际上同意公司运营一个营利性部门，因为他知道开发 AI 非常昂贵。因此，关键在于证明马斯克当时知道什么、不知道什么，以及他是否真的被奥特曼和布罗克曼欺骗了。
There’s a big debate about when exactly Musk found out about this alleged misconduct. Musk founded OpenAI with Altman and Brockman in 2015, and he brought the suit in 2024. There’s a statute of limitations for charitable trust claims; you need to have brought a claim within three to four years after you find out about the alleged misconduct. So Musk tries to paint a picture that back in the day he was a little suspicious, but that it was really only in 2022 that he realized OpenAI was no longer committed to its original charitable mission, and that he had been scammed. It’s only the first week of trial, but I’m not sure Musk has proved this to the judge and jury. 关于马斯克究竟何时发现所谓的“不当行为”，存在巨大争议。马斯克于 2015 年与奥特曼和布罗克曼共同创立了 OpenAI，并于 2024 年提起诉讼。慈善信托索赔有诉讼时效限制；你必须在发现所谓不当行为后的三到四年内提起诉讼。因此，马斯克试图描绘这样一种情况：他当时确实有些怀疑，但直到 2022 年才真正意识到 OpenAI 不再致力于其最初的慈善使命，并意识到自己被骗了。目前只是庭审的第一周，但我并不确定马斯克是否已经向法官和陪审团证明了这一点。
What were some standout moments thus far? 到目前为止，有哪些突出的时刻？
At one point one of Elon Musk’s lawyers said, “We could all die as a result of AI.” I think a lot of the people in the room were really shaken by this comment, and the judge told Musk’s lawyer: You talk about all these safety risks that OpenAI has when building AI, but Musk is also creating a company that’s in the same exact space. She basically said, I’m sure there’s plenty of people who also don’t want to put the future of humanity in Elon Musk’s hands. 有一次，埃隆·马斯克的律师说：“我们都可能因为 AI 而死。”我认为在场的许多人都被这句话震惊了，法官对马斯克的律师说：你谈论 OpenAI 在开发 AI 时存在的所有这些安全风险，但马斯克也在创建一家处于完全相同领域的公司。她基本上是说，我相信也有很多人不想把人类的未来交到埃隆·马斯克手中。
And then the lawyers just kept going on and on about the catastrophic risks of AI and whether Elon Musk or OpenAI was in the better position to steward AI safety. And the judge sort of snapped. She said very sternly that this trial was not about whether or not artificial intelligence has damaged humanity. And I thought that was a really striking standout moment of the trial that pointed at how even though it is technically just about whether Elon Musk was really deceived by OpenAI, it’s also become a huge discussion about AI safety and some of the practices that the labs are engaging in when building AI. 随后，律师们继续喋喋不休地讨论 AI 的灾难性风险，以及埃隆·马斯克和 OpenAI 谁更有能力引领 AI 安全。法官有些发火了。她非常严厉地表示，这次审判不是关于人工智能是否已经损害了人类。我认为这是庭审中一个非常引人注目的时刻，它指出尽管从技术上讲，这只是关于埃隆·马斯克是否真的被 OpenAI 欺骗，但它也已经演变成了一场关于 AI 安全以及实验室在构建 AI 时所采取的一些做法的巨大讨论。
Can you give us a look behind the curtain at how getting into this trial works? 你能带我们了解一下进入庭审现场的幕后情况吗？
There are tons of reporters. This is a very high-profile suit, so I have to wake up around 4:30 a.m. and show up to the Oakland courthouse at 6 a.m. sharp to get in line. And on some days, even 6 a.m. doesn’t get you into the courtroom. There are lots of photographers in front of the courthouse, especially on days when you know Musk or Altman and Brockman are present. And there’s also some concerned citizens who want to watch the trial. I usually have to wait, like, two hours in line to get in to be one of the 30 people who claim the unreserved seats in the courtroom. 这里有大量的记者。这是一起非常引人注目的诉讼，所以我必须在凌晨 4:30 左右起床，并在早上 6 点准时赶到奥克兰法院排队。有时即使 6 点到也进不去法庭。法院门前有很多摄影师，尤其是在马斯克、奥特曼或布罗克曼出席的日子里。还有一些关心此事的公民也想旁听审判。我通常需要排队两个小时左右，才能成为那 30 个获得法庭非预留席位的旁听者之一。
What has it felt like to see Elon Musk testify? How would you describe his demeanor? 看到埃隆·马斯克作证是什么感觉？你会如何描述他的举止？
He shows up in a crisp black suit. He can be this inflammatory person on X, but in the courtroom, he is calm, cool, collected, and looks very comfortable. He has been in a lot of lawsuits. He knows how to talk to the jury and how to present himself in front of them and the judge. He’s also cracking jokes with his lawyer and even the opposing party’s lawyer and the judge. And he can be witty. 他穿着一身干练的黑色西装出现。他在 X 上可能是一个煽动性的人物，但在法庭上，他冷静、沉着、镇定，看起来非常自在。他经历过很多诉讼，知道如何与陪审团交谈，以及如何在他们和法官面前表现自己。他还会和自己的律师，甚至对方律师和法官开玩笑。他有时很风趣。
There was this one moment when OpenAI’s lawyer was asking Musk a question and sort of fed him an answer. And Musk said “That’s not a leading question, that’s a leading answer.” The judge intervened and said, “You’re not a lawyer, Elon.” And then he was like, “Well, I did take Law 101.” That said, he does get flustered and uncomfortable when OpenAI’s lawyer asks tough, piercing questions. Which he’s been doing. 有一次，OpenAI 的律师在问马斯克问题时，顺便给了他一个答案。马斯克说：“那不是诱导性提问，那是诱导性回答。”法官介入并说：“你不是律师，埃隆。”然后他回答说：“好吧，我确实上过法律入门课。”话虽如此，当 OpenAI 的律师提出尖锐、刺耳的问题时，他确实会感到慌乱和不适。而对方律师也确实一直在这样做。
What are the biggest things we’ve learned that weren’t clear in the earlier phases of this case? 在案件早期阶段不清楚的事情中，我们学到的最重要的事情是什么？
On the fourth day of the trial, Musk admitted during cross-examination that xAI distills OpenAI’s models to train its own models, which was shocking. Musk followed up by saying that this is standard practice amo 在庭审的第四天，马斯克在交叉询问中承认，xAI 提取了 OpenAI 的模型来训练自己的模型，这令人震惊。马斯克随后补充说，这是行业内的标准做法……