The Download: Musk v. Altman week 3, and Trump’s tech trading

This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology.

Musk v. Altman week 3: Musk and Altman traded blows over each other’s credibility. Now the jury will pick a side.

In the final week of the Musk v. Altman trial, lawyers attacked the credibility of the two tech leaders. Sam Altman was accused of lying and self-dealing, while Elon Musk was portrayed as a power-seeker trying to control artificial general intelligence.

The case unearthed new details about the two arch-rivals and OpenAI’s contested nonprofit status, as well as a golden trophy of a donkey’s ass awarded to an employee who challenged Musk.

Read the full story on the explosive final week of the trial.

—Michelle Kim

Michelle Kim, who's also a lawyer, has been in court throughout the Musk v. Altman trial. Read her coverage of week 1 and week 2, plus a Q&A on what it was like in the room. 

The must-reads

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Trump traded hundreds of millions in tech stocks before favorable policy moves
He bought shares in Nvidia, AMD, and Arm ahead of policy boosts. (Quartz)
+ And touted Palantir on Truth Social after buying its stock. (CNBC)
+ His crypto venture and Iran’s top exchange tapped the same networks. (Reuters $)

2 SpaceX plans to list on the Nasdaq stock exchange as soon as June 12
It wants to raise up to $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation. (Reuters $)
+ BlackRock may invest up to $10 billion in the offering. (The Information $)
+ Cerebras’ blockbuster IPO has boosted hopes for the listing. (CNBC)
+ Which is set to dwarf many of the biggest IPOs on ⁠record. (Reuters)

3 Chinese AI groups have pulled ahead of US rivals in video generation
ByteDance and Kuaishou’s models lead in realism and scale. (FT $)
+ AI is fueling China’s short-drama boom. (MIT Technology Review)
+ While its AI labs are betting big on open source. (MIT Technology Review)

4 Iran says it will charge Big Tech for using undersea internet cables
The cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz carry vast digital traffic. (CNN)
+ Tech bosses met at Uber HQ on Saturday to discuss Iran’s future. (404 Media)

5 Samsung has a “last chance” to stop a massive strike over AI
Over 45,000 employees could walk out for 18 days this week. (CNBC) 
+ They want a bigger share of the AI boom. (FT $)
+ Samsung and its largest labor union will resume talks on Tuesday. (Reuters $)

6 Old oil and gas wells could become a new source of clean energy
US states plan to convert them into geothermal energy assets. (Wired $)
+ A balcony solar boom is coming to the US. (MIT Technology Review)

7 The ChatGPT era has triggered a 30% surge in grades at a top university
Grades inflated in text-heavy courses but remained flat in others. (Axios)
+ Princeton has changed its honor code because of AI cheating. (WSJ $)
+ And real cheating rates may be far higher. (The Times $)

8 Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt was fiercely booed during an AI speech
His graduation speech praising AI agents sparked uproar. (The Verge)
+ A populist backlash is building against AI. (MIT Technology Review)

9 Arm faces a US antitrust probe over its chip tech licenses
Regulators are investigating whether it has an illegal monopoly. (Bloomberg $)
+ Qualcomm has accused Arm of anticompetitive conduct. (Reuters $)

10 ArXiv will ban researchers who submit AI slop
Offending authors face year-long bans from the pre-print server. (TechCrunch)

Quote of the day

“When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on.” 

—Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt extolls the virtues of AI agents in a graduation speech at the University of Arizona, prompting a chorus of boos.

One More Thing

Is this the end of animal testing?

—Harriet Brown

We can still have nice things

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)

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