Zoe Kleinman: Why the AI industry is the real winner of the Musk-Altman trial

It is not only OpenAI but the AI race itself that was vindicated in the California courtroom last night.

Even though Elon Musk essentially lost on a technicality, there's a clear signal from the verdict that making lots of money from AI and competing fiercely with rivals is simply business.

The industry tries sometimes to display a united front, especially when it comes to safety, research and inclusivity.

But this case served as a powerful reminder that none of the AI giants are charities: and don't have to be, even if they once said otherwise.

Cracks in the façade of industry collaboration for the sake of humanity have been exposed before.

In February I was in India for a global AI Summit, where host Prime Minister Narendra Modi orchestrated the world's tech leaders to hold hands on-stage.

Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, once colleagues at OpenAI and now bitter rivals, found themselves side-by-side.

But this time, they pointedly clenched their fists into tight balls to avoid touching one another.

Similarly "petty" drama during the trial in Oakland, California these last weeks has helped lift the veil on the AI sector - and the huge egos of the men at the heart of it jostling for money and power.

Nobody came out of it looking particularly heroic.

Amid a chorus of concern that AI firms have been overvalued and the sector could be a bubble about to burst, the trial may have bought the industry more time.

Some also speculated that OpenAI could not afford to lose.

The company has burned through huge volumes of investor cash and recently hired a chief revenue officer, tasked with helping it to raise its own money.

Prior to the verdict, one economist predicted OpenAI had a 50% chance of going bust by 2027: not having to pay billions of dollars to Musk in damages may help lengthen those odds.

Musk himself is unlikely to be seriously wounded by the outcome: this is not his first rodeo in courtroom dramas, and he is after all the world's richest man.

But he's also very loud and he does bear grudges: he will undoubtedly continue to swing punches at OpenAI and attempt to embarrass it from his social network X.

However while Musk and Altman have been focused on each trying to prove themselves the worthiest custodians of AI in court, their rivals have raced ahead.

Anthropic has made headlines with claims that its latest model Claude Mythos could be dangerously good at hacking - .