Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Two of the biggest names in the world of tech are set to go head to head over the coming days as Elon Musk seeks $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft. Jury selection began yesterday with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI in attendance. Newstalk's technology correspondent Jess Kelly joins us now with the details. So Jess, will you explain to us what all of this is about?
This is a fascinating case, Clare, and it kind of hangs on the issue of a breach of trust. So people may not know this, but Elon Musk was very involved in OpenAI at the beginning. And the premise of OpenAI was meant to be that it was going to be good for humanity. It would be a non-profit program. research lab that was designed to build safe AI for the benefit of humanity.
Chapter 2: What is the lawsuit Elon Musk has filed against OpenAI and Microsoft about?
Musk says he donated around $44 million under the premise that it would be, as I say, open source and non-commercial. However, as we've been covering on the station over the last number of years, OpenAI and their product ChatGPT has transformed entirely.
MUFG is now alleging that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of OpenAI have flipped the narrative when they saw how lucrative this technology would be. And they have now engaged in a partnership that saw, as seen to date, Microsoft investing around $13 billion in in the technology.
So Musk is saying that this is now, it's untruthful, it's not what they said, therefore it breaches the agreement they had and he's saying it violates the original mission and he is obviously not happy.
I mentioned there the jury selection has started. It began yesterday and Sam Altman was there. Are they trying to find a jury who knows nothing about Elon Musk and nothing about Sam Altman? And if that is the case, will they ever find those people?
Yeah, it was very interesting following the proceedings yesterday. So it's going to be a nine-person jury. And it was kind of obvious from the questions that were going on in court in terms of jury selection that it was going to be near impossible to find a jury that didn't have... opinions or base knowledge of the two men and indeed the company.
However, the court, the jury now has been selected and we're expecting to hear opening arguments today. What's really interesting is Sam Altman is due to appear in the court. He was there yesterday during jury selection as well. So all eyes will be on this.
I think what's fascinating is, and this is more commentary than what's being said in the court, but Elon Musk and Sam Altman, I would argue you'd struggle to find more divisive figures, not only in the world of technology, but just in society as well. Both have been very outspoken. Both have significant public profiles. Both are involved in technology that is...
impactful to humanity like it or lo that x formerly known as twitter is a significant player in terms of the online discourse open ai is the company and again just to put this in context open ai and chat gpt were the first of the llms which is the large language model uh chat platforms that really kicked off this generative ai bubble that we're in at the moment um and open ai are alleging
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Chapter 3: How did Elon Musk's involvement shape the early days of OpenAI?
that this is all based on jealousy because X, so formerly Twitter, they have their own version of AI and the commentary that I have seen from people associated with OpenAI, they are putting it out there that Elon Musk is now jealous. He is absolutely raging that he walked away from the company. He's seeing how profitable and how impactful OpenAI is becoming and that's the only reason for this.
Well, he says, doesn't he, this was supposed to be a not-for-profit. It all started in one of the founders' apartments. This is Greg Brockman and Elon was in for the good of humanity and they turned it into a profit-making machine. I didn't want that to happen. And so I was sold a pop.
Exactly. And that is... I suppose for some of us who have followed the trajectory of Elon Musk's career, it's a bit of an argument that's slightly hard to swallow when almost everything he has done has been significantly for profit. If you look at the changes, again, when he took over Xbox,
In and around the time, not long after OpenAI came to the market, he has made significant changes again to try and make a profit. And I understand that the notion of AI for good, AI for humanity was this beautiful notion. But as we've come to learn over the last number of years, these are incredibly expensive operations to run. But also there is a massive opportunity there.
And at the end of the day, these are businessmen.
I was looking at analysts who believe that the whole case hinges on a diary entry in Greg Brockman's personal diary where he says, and he's the OpenAI president and co-founder, this is the only chance we have to get out from Elon. Is he the glorious leader that I would pick? It's fairly damning, isn't it?
It's very damning, and again, to be slightly juvenile about it for a second, I'm looking forward to the juicy goss that we're going to get from this case, because I do think we're going to get great insight into not only the characters involved here, but also the evolution of the vision for OpenAI, because I don't think we can understate how significant its development and its deployment into the world has been
This was the catalyst for so many other platforms and products to come to the market. Microsoft have their own AI. They use Copilot. Google has Gemini. Meta has Llama. But this all spiraled or kind of was given a bit of a birth a number of years ago when OpenAI was really kicked things going. I'm here in Washington at the moment for the next few days with the hard shoulder.
And a lot of the conversations on the ground here have been around AI and the AI war that's ongoing. We've spoken on the station previously about the race to be sort of number one in the world of AI between the US and China. There's also a bit of an AI race in Europe as well. And one of the conversations I was having here yesterday related to regulation and so on.
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Chapter 4: What are the allegations regarding OpenAI's shift from non-profit to profit-driven?
It's like a squished Easter egg, for want of a better phrase, at 4.20am in Washington. It's the oval shape. It's the one that if you've bought an iPhone in the last number of years, if you've bought a Google phone in the last number of years, this is the charger that you have. What's really important to note, though, it is the wattage, the voltage of the cable. You need to make sure
Not only if the cable is correct and the plug is correct. I alluded to this with you last week, but if you, say if you bought a phone seven years ago and it by some miracle has USB-C charging, but it's for your phone, that will not be strong enough, powerful enough to charge your laptop. So if you, So this is the pluggy bit. Again, technical terms, I apologize.
But the pluggy bit is really important. You need to make sure that the plug has the power and capacity to charge your laptop. It will also do your phone. But again, if you're not using the right type of plug, you can sizzle your phone battery or you can drain your laptop battery by it underperforming. So you still need to make sure you have the correct plug. But the big news today is...
Any device that you buy from today will be chargeable with a USB-C charger. So whether that is your laptop, your phone, your headphones, even the new Kindles, like all of the devices that that junk drawer that we all have in our homes filled with a thousand different cables. They can all go to your local wee recycling center. Just get rid of them and you will be USB for now.
It's a huge deal in terms of e-waste. We have a massive issue, not only in this country, but right around the world with e-waste. And a big part of that is down to cables like not that long ago. I'd have a special cable for my Kindle, a different one for my headphones, a different one for my wearable, a different one for my laptop and a different one for my phone.
That's five different charging cables for one individual. And of course, you know, I have multiples of them as well. So to make this move, this is an EU initiative. And I do think it's going to make a huge dent in terms of e-waste, but also in terms of the wrecking people's heads. You don't have to have millions of cables on you now at all times. Yeah. which is great.
Probably two good quality cables per person would be enough, maybe one for the car and one for the house and you're done and no more fights over them either, which will be a good side benefit to all of this. Jess, thank you so much for joining us.
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Chapter 5: What challenges are faced in jury selection for this high-profile case?
Jess Kelly there at Newstalk's Tech Correspondent.