머스크 vs 알트만 소송과 트럼프 행보, 한타바이러스 음모론

Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story This week on Uncanny Valley , the team dives into Trump’s selected entourage for his high-stakes visit to China, ranging from Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires to Melania director Brett Ratner. We also break down the latest developments in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, alleging that OpenAI abandoned its original nonprofit mission for profit-driven goals, and whether either side is actually gaining an edge in the trial. Plus, Leah shares with us some of the most outlandish conspiracy theories that have been swirling around the hantavirus outbreak. Articles mentioned in this episode: Everyone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt Cushions Elon Musk Had ‘Hair-Raising’ Idea of Passing OpenAI On to His Kids, Sam Altman Says Hantavirus Conspiracy Theories Are Already Spreading Online Inside the Race to Develop a Test for the Rare Andes Hantavirus You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett , Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer , and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger . Write to us at [email protected] . How to Listen You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “uncanny valley.” We’re on Spotify too. Transcript Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors. Zoë Schiffer : Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley . I'm Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry. Brian Barrett : I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor. Leah Feiger : And I'm Leah Feiger, director of politics and science. Zoë Schiffer : Today on the show, we're diving into the final week of the Musk v. Altman trial . The high profile testimonies we've heard this week, including from OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman himself, have resurfaced a lot of past events and a lot of drama, but we're asking will this actually be consequential to the trial's verdict? Brian Barrett : Also happening this week, President Trump is headed to China. He's accompanied by a select number of Silicon Valley's top CEOs. We'll discuss how their presence could influence conversations between world leaders at a moment when the economic and foreign policy stakes could not be higher for the US. Leah Feiger : We'll also get into the wild conspiracy theories that have been increasingly swirling around the hantavirus from wellness influencers to grifters. A lot of them have been recycling very similar conspiracy theories from the Covid-19 pandemic . We're going to tell you what they're sharing and also how to spot this kind of harmful misinformation. Zoë Schiffer : So we're wrapping up the final week of one of the most consequential and honestly one of the pettiest trials in Silicon Valley history. The one between Elon Musk and Sam Altman. The last time we spoke about the trial , we were still at the very beginning figuring out who was going to speak and what they were going to say. But now we've heard Musk’s team put forth their key argument , namely that Sam Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman deceived him by creating OpenAI's for-profit arm instead of keeping OpenAI as a classic charity. This week we heard from some of the key people who have been central to both the past and the present of OpenAI. We're talking about Ilya Sutskever , who's the former OpenAI Chief Scientist, who is part of the effort to briefly oust Sam Altman as CEO back in November 2023. We also heard from Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella , who is one of the earliest backers of OpenAI. And finally, Sam Altman himself took the stand . Leah Feiger : Appearing in federal court in Oakland on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified that he believes himself to be, "an honest and trustworthy business person." Brian Barrett : Testifying for the first time in the landmark trial, Altman said that it was Musk who had sought to seize control of OpenAI and make money from it. Zoë Schiffer : Brian, Leah, I feel like I'm so close to this. I have two reporters who are in the courtroom every single day. I'm curious for your perspective on everything we've heard so far, what do you think about what's happened in this trial, which could be wrapping up at least in terms of major testimony Thursday this week? Leah Feiger : This is must-see TV. I have been particularly taken with the Business Desk's reporting on this and I think it was just a few days ago a piece that came out about Sam Altman's testimony on how apparently Elon Musk was just going to hand OpenAI to his children. Am I misstating this? Did that happen? Brian Barrett : No, that's right. Leah Feiger : What? Zoë Schiffer : It was a suggestion. It was a suggestion. Leah Feiger : What? Zoë Schiffer : Yeah. So I mean, this is crazy. Just to back up a little bit, Elon Musk has had to convince the jury of two key things. One was that he attached special conditions to the $38 million that he gave OpenAI in its very early days and that Greg Brockman and CEO Sam Altman violated those conditions. The other one, and this is really tricky, is that he only realized that it had violated these agreements in 2023 when Sam Altman was ousted as CEO. And that's because the statute of limitations on this lawsuit expired way before that. He left OpenAI years before. And so he's basically trying to start the clock around the time that Sam Altman left the company and then came back saying, "I didn't realize until then that things were as bad as they are." I will say that from my perspective so far he hasn't made a really strong case, but what he has done really, really well I think is embarrassed Sam Altman in many, many ways by forcing him to sit there as various people he worked with over the years basically called him untrustworthy. Brian Barrett : Yeah. There's been a parade of people and also text messages from the—I think a fun part about trials and the legal process is that there's the discovery process, which means that you get to read all kinds of emails and texts— Zoë Schiffer : The most fun. Brian Barrett : —from when bad things are happening, may it never happen to any of us. But there was a very crowded time, I believe, Zoë, correct me here, it was OpenAI’s Sam Altman had texted Mira Murati about how things were going around the time of the lip, and she wrote back that it was directionally very bad, which was like such— Zoë Schiffer : Yeah, this became a meme. Leah Feiger : Oh, I mean, they're everywhere. It's like the screenshots of those texts. Zoë Schiffer : It was everywhere. Yeah. I mean, what was going on at this time, this is so interesting because I feel like we went from knowing Sam Altman was ousted as CEO and everyone was like, "Why did it happen?" And literally for weeks, if not months, it was like, we probably will never know the real reasons. He was kicked out, then he came back. It's just going to be a mystery. Now I've gotten to the point where I'm like, I actually know way too much. I've had three different incredible writers describe the look on Sam Altman's face when he was on the Zoom at the racetrack realizing that he was no longer going to be the CEO. Mira Murati was being asked to step in as interim. She's texting with Sam Altman on the side as she's with Satya Nadella kind of negotiating between all of the parties. But yes, at one point Sam was, I think, very, very stressed and anxious. He was having to lay down on the floor because he was so overwhelmed with the events. Brian Barrett : Been there. Zoë Schiffer : And he was texting Mira, "What's going on? " And she classically sai