Microsoft aims to avoid Musk-Altman feud
▼ Summary
– The author developed a fondness for Microsoft during the Musk v. Altman trial because Microsoft seemed to find the proceedings as absurd as the author did.
– Microsoft’s opening statement functioned as a product advertisement, implying the trial was ridiculous but the jury might still enjoy an Xbox.
– Microsoft was an early major funder of OpenAI’s for-profit company, but it is notably absent as a primary decision-maker in the trial’s extensive text messages and diary entries.
– CEO Satya Nadella testified as mild-mannered and unperturbed, calling OpenAI’s 2023 board drama “amateur city.”
– Throughout the trial, Microsoft’s lawyers repeatedly established that Microsoft was not involved in key events or communications.
After spending three weeks entrenched in the ongoing legal battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, I’ve developed an unexpected fondness for Microsoft. The tech giant clearly wants no part of this courtroom drama, and they make that fact abundantly clear.
Microsoft’s opening statement was quintessentially corporate. It felt less like a legal argument and more like a product showcase, listing their offerings in painstaking detail. The underlying message to the jury seemed to be: this entire lawsuit is ridiculous, our involvement is ridiculous, but hey, maybe go buy an Xbox.
The trial has featured plenty of high-stakes testimony from Musk, his inner circle, and OpenAI executives. While Microsoft was an early and major investor in OpenAI’s for-profit arm, they are conspicuously absent from the messy, personal text threads, diary entries, and other embarrassing documents that have surfaced. A few emails mention them, and CEO Satya Nadella appears in a handful of texts asking OpenAI board members or urging Sam Altman or Mira Murati to call him. But that’s the extent of it.
Nadella’s testimony was remarkably calm and unremarkable, as sensible and unexciting as a pair of khakis. His most memorable line came when he described OpenAI’s 2023 boardroom chaos, when Altman was briefly fired, as “amateur city, as far as I was concerned.” He’s not wrong. The entire spectacle , the late-night text exchanges between Musk’s allies, the equity squabbles, Musk’s dramatic “I’ve had enough” email , all feels fundamentally immature and unprofessional.
Throughout the trial, Musk’s legal team and OpenAI’s lawyers have clashed over witnesses, each side trying to score points. Then the Microsoft attorneys stand up, almost like a comedic punchline, and walk through a series of events: “Was Microsoft present?” No. “Was anyone at Microsoft informed about that?” No. “Was Satya Nadella involved?” No. No further questions, your honor.
I’m genuinely curious to see their closing statement. At this rate, it might just be a commercial for Microsoft Word.
(Source: The Verge)
