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WSJ Tech News Briefing

TNB Tech Minute: Sam Altman Takes the Stand in Blockbuster Trial

WSJ Tech News Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Tech News

4.31.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2026

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Plus: Meta offers WhatsApp tool to AI rivals for free to appease EU regulators. And Tencent doubles down on AI. Imani Moise hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Wednesday, May 13th.

0:05.6

I'm Imani Moise for the Wall Street Journal.

0:08.6

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the stand yesterday in the Blockbuster trial brought by Elon Musk,

0:14.4

offering a calm defense of his leadership of the company.

0:17.7

Altman testified that he, the other OpenAI co-founders, and even Musk felt it was necessary to convert to a for-profit company in order to secure the funding needed for computing resources.

0:27.6

The CEO also sought to contextualize and undermine Musk's $38 million in donations to Open AI, saying his gifts made up 28% of all donations from 2015 to

0:40.2

2020. Altman also testified at length about his personal investing conflicts, confirming he

0:46.3

owned substantial stakes in startups that have signed deals with the AI lab. News Corp, the owner of

0:51.7

the Wall Street Journal, has a content licensing partnership with Open AI.

0:56.0

Meta says it will let rival AI chatbots use a WhatsApp tool for talking to users in the EU for free for one month,

1:03.0

as the company attempts to avoid a potential fine from the Block's antitrust regulator.

1:07.0

Meta updated its WhatsApp business terms last year, effectively banning third-party AI assistance

1:12.8

from connecting with users on the platform and triggering an antitrust investigation.

1:18.0

A spokesman for the European Commission called the offer a step in the right direction.

1:23.5

And Tencent is accelerating its AI efforts.

1:26.4

The Chinese tech giant said it's more than doubling its AI investment

1:30.1

after spending about $2.65 billion last year,

1:33.7

and that its core businesses are cushioning the burden of higher capital expenditure.

1:38.4

Shares of China's most valuable company have lost steam this year

1:41.4

as its aggressive spending plan stokes concerns about an earning slowdown

1:45.0

following quarters of double-digit growth in both profit and revenue. Tencent said its first quarter net

1:50.5

profit rose 21% from a year earlier to roughly $8.5 billion, beating market expectations.

...

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