Microsoft is trying to stay out of Musk v. Altman

Maybe I’m just drunk in my third week of attending Musk v. Altmanbut I’ve been too much, very much they prefer Microsoft during this trial. He doesn’t want to be here any more than I do.

Their opening statement was honestly one of the best Microsoft products I’ve ever seen. More than anything else, it was Microsoft’s product that listed their products in detail. The main meaning, from the words, was that the case was frivolous, their involvement was frivolous, but you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, can still enjoy Xbox games.

There has been a lot of drama in the stands, from Musk, his partners, and OpenAI. Microsoft was the first and biggest funder of the OpenAI for-profit company, it’s true. We saw internal emails about whether OpenAI funding was a good idea, and how to avoid becoming the IBM to the Microsoft of OpenAI. (In the context of these tests? Normal!)

But Microsoft is largely lacking as a decision-maker for the mass media, newsletters, and other embarrassing ephemera. They appeared in several emailsand there were several texts from CEO Satya Nadella showing OpenAI board members or asking Sam Altman or Mira Murati to call him, but that was it.

On the stand, Nadella was calm and unflappable, pleasant and smart as a pair of khaki pants. His answers were largely unremarkable, except for one: he noted that OpenAI’s 2023 drama, in which Altman was summarily fired, “was a city of underachievers, as I thought.” True! But then this whole experiment is a kind of game city, according to Microsoft. The 12 AM texts between the Musks are missing, financial arguments, Musk’s “I’ve had enough” email, all…

So all this time, Musk’s lawyers and OpenAI’s lawyers produced witnesses. Then Microsoft’s lawyers stood up, and like a court case, they went through a series of events: “Did Microsoft exist?” It wasn’t like that. “Did anyone tell anyone at Microsoft about this?” They didn’t. “Was Satya Nadella there?” He wasn’t. No other questions, your honor.

I await their final words. It will probably be a Microsoft Word product.