The Elon Musk Jackass Trophy
▼ Summary
– The article is written by a Verge reporter covering tech, money, and human behavior, who previously worked at Bloomberg.
– In the Musk v. Altman trial, a trophy inscribed “Never stop being a jackass” was presented, commemorating OpenAI employees’ gift to researcher Josh Achiam.
– The trophy references an incident where Elon Musk allegedly called Achiam a jackass after Achiam questioned Musk’s plan to race ahead of Google on AI safety.
– Musk denied the incident in his testimony, stating he might have said “Don’t be a jackass” instead.
– The judge ruled the trophy could not be shown to jurors unless Musk’s team gave reason, but the press was allowed to hear about it.
Yesterday, in the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial, a curious object was passed around the courtroom before the jurors arrived. From a distance, it looked like a little league trophy. It was not. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers directed the lawyers to read the inscription aloud for the press: “Never stop being a jackass.” This trophy was a gift from OpenAI employees to research scientist Josh Achiam, who testified the day before.
How does a gag gift become relevant in a trial centered on nonprofit contract law? The backstory traces to Elon Musk’s departure from OpenAI. According to testimony, Musk was talking about racing ahead of Google. Achiam, who focused on AI safety, questioned whether that was wise. Musk reportedly called him a jackass. Now, Musk is framing his lawsuit as an effort to prevent AI from causing serious harm. Altman’s team, however, points out that safety wasn’t exactly Musk’s priority back then.
During his own direct testimony, Musk denied the exchange happened, though he allowed that he might have said something like, “Don’t be a jackass.”
Judge Rogers ruled the trophy would not be shown to the jurors unless Musk’s team gave OpenAI a reason to introduce it. So the jury only heard about it. But now the public can see it for themselves.
Correction, May 14th: The researcher is Josh Achiam, not Ackiam.
(Source: The Verge)
