Musk v. Altman Trial Delivers Damning Testimony, Anthropic Targets Small Business with Claude AI, OpenAI Backs Kids Safety Act — AI News Briefing

🗞️ AI News Briefing — May 14, 2026 (06:00 CST)

Top 7 Stories

1. Musk v. Altman Trial: Achiam Testifies Musk Called Him a “Jackass” and Wanted to “Race Toward AGI”

The most dramatic courtroom day yet featured testimony from Josh Achiam, OpenAI’s chief futurist, who described a tense all-hands meeting during Musk’s February 2018 departure where Musk “snapped and called me a jackass” after Achiam warned that racing toward AGI was “obviously unsafe and reckless.” OpenAI brought physical evidence — a commemorative half-donkey trophy reading “Never stop being a jackass,” which Musk’s legal team tried to block from the jury. Achiam, who received the trophy from Dario Amodei, also described Musk’s fixation on Google DeepMind, saying Musk was deeply concerned about DeepMind reaching AGI first and wanted to compete at an unsafe pace. The testimony directly contradicted Musk’s earlier claim that he never called anyone a jackass.

2. Court Documents Reveal Musk Was “Fixated” on Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis

Beyond the trial’s main claims, court exhibits paint a picture of an OpenAI leadership circle consumed by competition with Google DeepMind and its CEO Demis Hassabis. Greg Brockman testified that Musk talked about Hassabis “many, many times” in OpenAI’s early years, calling him “very consistent and fixated.” In a 2016 email, Musk wrote that DeepMind was “moving very fast” and OpenAI was “playing the Puppy Bowl” while Google played the “Super Bowl.” Board member Shivon Zilis, who now shares four children with Musk, wrote that “there is a very low probability of a good future if someone doesn’t slow Demis down.” By November 2018, Musk told colleagues his “probability assessment of OpenAI being relevant to DeepMind/Google without a dramatic change in execution and resources is 0%.“

3. Anthropic Launches Claude for Small Business with 15 Agentic Workflows

Anthropic announced Claude for Small Business, a package of connectors and ready-to-run workflows that embed Claude directly into tools small businesses already use — including Intuit QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, Docusign, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365. The product ships with 15 agentic workflows across finance, operations, sales, marketing, HR, and customer service, covering tasks like payroll planning, month-end reconciliation, invoice chasing, campaign strategy, and lead triage. Anthropic president Daniela Amodei framed the launch as part of the company’s public benefit mission: “AI is the first technology that can finally close that gap” between small businesses and larger enterprises. The system operates with human-in-the-loop approval — no task sends, posts, or pays without the owner’s sign-off.

4. Microsoft’s Kevin Scott Testifies on OpenAI Partnership; Musk’s Team Grapples with Due Diligence

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott took the stand to explain Microsoft’s rationale for partnering with OpenAI, emphasizing how the collaboration would “show how to build out Azure for AI frontier research.” Scott also confirmed that Microsoft contributed more than 90% of OpenAI’s initial investments but held approval rights on select transactions rather than majority board control. Mike Wetter, a nearly 20-year Microsoft corporate development veteran, testified that Microsoft’s due diligence “found no conditions related to Elon Musk” in any agreements. Musk’s legal team appeared to struggle on cross-examination, with Scott politely noting he was not the chief revenue officer when asked about OpenAI revenue figures — a moment observers described as “pleasantly boring” but strategically significant for establishing Microsoft’s investor role.

5. OpenAI Endorses the Kids Online Safety Act

OpenAI has publicly endorsed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), marking a significant policy shift from the company. The legislation aims to establish safety standards and duty-of-care requirements for online platforms used by minors. The endorsement comes as major tech companies face mounting pressure over AI-related risks to children, including exposure to harmful AI-generated content and the growing phenomenon of children forming parasocial attachments to AI chatbots. OpenAI’s support adds weight to the bill’s prospects in Congress, given the company’s position as the leading AI developer in consumer-facing products.

6. Meta Launches Incognito Chat — AI Messages That Disappear After Sessions

Meta has quietly rolled out Incognito Chat, a new AI feature where messages automatically disappear after users leave their chat session. According to Meta, this ephemeral design makes the feature distinct from other AI chatbots that retain conversation history. The move positions Meta to compete in the growing conversational AI space while addressing privacy concerns that have plagued other platforms. The feature integrates with Meta’s messaging infrastructure, offering users a private, session-based AI interaction model that contrasts with the persistent chat logs typical of ChatGPT and Claude.

7. AI Data Center Buildout Accelerates Across the US Amid Local Opposition

A wave of new AI data center projects continues to break ground across the United States, but many are facing significant pushback from local communities concerned about environmental impact, power grid strain, and noise pollution. The projects reflect the unprecedented compute demand driven by training and inference for large language models. Recent articles highlight a growing tension between the tech industry’s need for massive data infrastructure and community resistance, with some municipalities considering restrictions or moratoriums on new data center construction. The trend underscores the physical infrastructure costs of the AI boom that remain largely invisible to end users.

📊 Trend Watch

🔭 What to Watch

• Musk v. Altman closing statements — Expected tomorrow (May 14). The jury will hear final arguments after weeks of testimony. A verdict timeline is unclear but could reshape OpenAI’s governance structure and set precedents for nonprofit-to-for-profit conversions in tech.
• Claude for Small Business adoption — Anthropic’s push into the SMB AI market with 15 pre-built workflows will be a key test of whether agentic AI can deliver real ROI for non-technical business owners, or if adoption stalls at the “toggle install” stage.
• KOSA legislative momentum — With OpenAI’s endorsement, the bill gains a major AI industry backer. Watch for reactions from other AI labs (Anthropic, Google, Microsoft) and whether their positions shift the bill’s chances in Congress.