Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman. We all know this.
But there’s been an update the Tubefilter audience is gonna dig: You can now listen to the entire trial live on YouTube.
This is thanks to a May 1 change to the Northern District of California’s Civil Local Rule 77-3, which governs remote public access to court proceedings. The amendment means the rule now specifically allows judges to, “in their discretion, provide the public with remote video or audio access to court proceedings.”
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The first judge to exercise this power is Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers–aka, the judge overseeing the Musk v Altman case.
She’s decided to broadcast audio of the trial on the official US District Court Northern District of California YouTube channel; the channel has 3.6K subscribers, and around ~470 people were listening to the Musk v Altman stream when we tuned in this afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7u6KQlu_c
If that seems like low viewership compared to, for example, the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard case, it’s at least in part because there is no video accompaniment here. The livestream is strictly limited to audio, so anyone wanting some visual stimulation will have to stick to court drawings.
There are also a couple strict guidelines surrounding the stream: “Recording or rebroadcasting the audio livestream is strictly prohibited,” the district wrote in an official notice. “This restriction applies regardless of platform or format. The Court takes violations seriously.”
(In case you’re wondering, as we did, if there’s money to be made for the district here, the answer is no. The court’s channel appears to not be monetized.)
The Northern District said it chose to allow broadcasts because “based on its own experience from 2020 to 2023 [it’s decided] that, except in very rare circumstances, providing the media and the public with remote video access improves transparency and confidence in judicial proceedings without having any negative effect on those proceedings,” it said in a notice.
As Business Insider points out, federal courts (which include the one hosting Musk v Altman) have historically not been open to broadcasting, but rules began to relax during COVID lockdowns. The aforementioned Depp v Heard trial went so viral in 2022 because it was broadcast by outlets like YouTube channel Law&Crime after its presiding judge ruled cameras would be permitted in her courtroom. These days, true crime is arguably an even bigger genre, and we’re curious to see what could come if more judges decide to start broadcasting cases of note.
Now the internet can dissect Musk v Altman at every stage. The trial, which began April 28, is over Altman’s decision to give OpenAI a path to being for-profit despite alleged promises to remain nonprofit. Altman, in rebuttal to Musk’s accusations of “ill-gotten gains,” claims the suit is just a vehicle to hinder OpenAI as Musk’s own xAI tries to compete in the massive gen AI bubble.
Judge Rogers has already indicated she’s fed up with both participants. In opening the trial, she gave both Musk and Altman warnings about their behavior on social media, even asking Musk, “How can we get things done without you making things worse outside the courtroom?”
The US District Court Northern District of California YouTube channel will stream audio Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific until the case’s conclusion.
