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In response to Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, the company answered by releasing emails from Elon Musk showing that he actually supported OpenAI pivoting to a for-profit model and even merging with Tesla.

OpenAI, an AI company now famous for its ChatGPT chatbot based on large language models, was originally co-founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a non-profit.

In 2018, Musk left OpenAI’s board and cited a potential conflict with Tesla’s own AI effort as the reason for severing ties with the company at the time. The main issue seems to be a competition for AI talent between OpenAI and Tesla – though Musk has since said that he also disagreed with OpenAI’s direction on AI safety and moving from a non-profit organization to a for-profit.

Over the last few months, and especially since he launched his own AI startup (outside of Tesla), xAI, Musk has been hammering OpenAI over its move to a for-profit structure.

During that time, OpenAI continued to make waves in the AI industry – most recently through the unveiling of Sora, an impressive AI text-to-video generator.

Earlier this week, Musk went as far as filing a lawsuit against OpenAI in which he accused the company of prioritizing profits over public good and going against its original mission.

Today, OpenAI fought back with a blog post in which the company said it plans to move to “dismiss all of Elon’s claims”. The company showed proof, including emails, that Musk said that OpenAI wouldn’t be helpful as a non-profit and he supported a move to for-profit:

In late 2017, we and Elon decided the next step for the mission was to create a for-profit entity. Elon wanted majority equity, initial board control, and to be CEO. In the middle of these discussions, he withheld funding. Reid Hoffman bridged the gap to cover salaries and operations.

When that didn’t sit well with the rest of OpenAI, Musk shifted strategy and suggested to merge OpenAI into Tesla:

We couldn’t agree to terms on a for-profit with Elon because we felt it was against the mission for any individual to have absolute control over OpenAI. He then suggested instead merging OpenAI into Tesla. In early February 2018, Elon forwarded us an email suggesting that OpenAI should “attach to Tesla as its cash cow”, commenting that it was “exactly right… Tesla is the only path that could even hope to hold a candle to Google. Even then, the probability of being a counterweight to Google is small. It just isn’t zero”.

OpenAI released an email from Musk to prove this chronology of events. Musk forwarded an email from a person whose name has been redacted. In that email, the person explains the logic for merging OpenAI and Tesla. Musk wrote that the person is “exactly right”.

Here are the emails:

Electrek’s Take

Honestly, I don’t know what to think at this point. I don’t know if I was always wrong about Elon. I don’t know if he changed drastically over the last few years or if he just got worse at hiding his true self, but this is not the man I used to consider my hero.

For months, Elon has been publicly bashing OpenAI for its pivot to for-profit and now we learned that he himself admitted that it won’t be able to survive as a non-profit and supported the pivot – though only if he is in control of the company as its own entity or within Tesla.

This is a high level of hypocrisy.

Elon completely supported the shift to for-profit (as long as he was in control of it), but now he has decided the bash the move and even sue the company as he started a competing startup. If you think that’s a coincidence, I have a bridge to sell you.

That said, based on those emails, he does ultimately seem to want AI to be good for humanity, but his methods are questionable. He requires us to just trust him entirely, which is so hard to do these days.

This whole thing supports what Sam Altman said last year: “Elon desperately wants the world to be saved, but only if he is the one saving it.”

Also, it’s just a coincidence that by him “saving the world” from AI/with AI, he would own the entities getting extremely valuable from it. Just a coincidence.

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Toyota’s new EV is getting an off-road upgrade: Here’s our first look at the bZ Woodland

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Toyota's new EV is getting an off-road upgrade: Here's our first look at the bZ Woodland

It’s bigger, more powerful, and built for on and off-road adventures. Toyota’s new electric SUV is getting an upgraded Woodland edition with 375 hp, added ground clearance, and a host of other outdoor-ready features. Here’s our first look at the Toyota bZ Woodland EV.

Check out the new 2026 Toyota bZ Woodland EV

Toyota is finally stepping it up. After introducing its new bZ electric SUV earlier this week, the refreshed version of the “bZ4X,” Toyota unveiled a more powerful, off-road Woodland model on Thursday.

Unlike the bZ, the Woodland model has standard all-wheel drive (AWD). Powered by dual electric motors, Toyota’s rugged new EV packs 375 hp, or 37 hp more than the AWD version of the bZ electric SUV (338 hp).

It also offers added capability, with up to 3,500 lb towing capacity, 8.3″ of ground clearance, and available All-Terrain tires.

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Although the bZ Woodland features Toyota’s new “hammerhead front end” with a full-length LED light bar, it adds a twist with black overfenders and a wide, powerful stance.

The outdoor-focused electric SUV is nearly 6″ longer, opening up an extra 30 cubic feet of cargo space. It also gains a standard roof rack and 18″ aluminum wheels.

Toyota-bZ-Woodland-EV
2026 Toyota Woodland electric SUV (Source: Toyota)

Powered by a 74.7 kWh battery, Toyota expects the bZ Woodland to have a driving range of up to 260 miles. Like the bZ, it will also have a native NACS charging port to access Tesla Superchargers. Using DC fast charging, the electric SUV can recharge from 10% to 80% in roughly 30 minutes.

Other added features, including battery pre-conditioning and Plug & Charge capabilities, improve charging performance while making it easy to find and navigate to stations.

Toyota-bZ-Woodland-EV-interior
2026 Toyota Woodland electric SUV interior (Source: Toyota)

The interior looks about the same as Toyota’s other EV models, with a 14-inch infotainment and driver display screens. Toyota’s Audio Multimedia system powers the infotainment and supports standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities.

All bZ Woodland models will have heated SofTex®-trimmed seats for the driver and front passenger and a choice of Stone Brown or Black coloring.

Upgrading to the bZ Woodland Premium package gains a premium JBL Audio System, panoramic roof, ventilated front seats, and a front radiant heater.

The bZ Woodland is Toyota’s third EV to launch in the US, joining the new 2026 C-HR and bZ electric SUVs. It’s expected to arrive at dealerships in early 2026. Toyota will reveal prices closer to launch, but the upgraded off-road Woodland model is expected to start a bit higher at around $50,000. Check back soon for official prices.

Would you buy Toyota’s rugged new electric SUV for around $50,000? You’ll have the chance soon. Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

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Arc boats announces new, cheaper Arc Coast center console electric boat

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Arc boats announces new, cheaper Arc Coast center console electric boat

Arc, the company behind the powerful Arc One and Arc Sport electric boats, announced its next model today: the Arc Coast, a center console boat with many of the capabilities of its predecessors at a significantly lower price.

As a reminder, Arc is a relatively new company, founded in 2021 in Los Angeles, targeting the luxury boat market with high-powered electric boats. Its cofounders, Mitch Lee and Ryan Cook, are engineers who met while working at Boeing.

The company has since grown to over 170 employees, and boasts that many of them are former SpaceX, Tesla, and Rivian workers (like, well, every other electric startup).

It started with the Arc One, a $300,000 limited-edition 500hp electric speedboat, of which only 20 were made. Then Arc moved onto the Sport, a powerful wake boat made for lake activities (which we drove and it literally knocked us off our seat), starting at $258k. It’s also working on an electric tugboat for the Port of LA.

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Sales are going well with a substantial backlog and the Sport is sold out through the summer. It’s currently hoping to ramp up production of the Sport “into the hundreds of boats a year,” but it isn’t there yet.

But even while it ramps Sport production, it’s looking to address other markets, and its new Arc Coast announced today is an impressive stab at that.

The Arc Coast is a “center console” model. For those of us in the car world, it might sound confusing to name a vehicle after one of its parts, but the term makes for a meaningful distinction on a boat: the helm (or “console”), where the pilot operates the boat, is smack in the middle, offering mobility all around the edges of the deck.

This mobility is helpful for certain applications, for example fishing. Being able to move around all sides of the boat means that your rod won’t get caught up on rigging or a canopy.

It also just makes it easier to hang out and get around the boat. Instead of having to squeeze between seats or flip open a door to get towards the bow, you can just walk all around the boat without much obstruction.

However, these types of boats tend to have less luxuriant upholstery, less protection from the elements (sun shades, windshields, etc), less sitting space than other boat formats.

Because of this, Arc has been able to save a good amount of money on materials, and it allows them to offer the Coast model with similar performance and many of the same features as its others, but at a lower price.

  • Length: 24ft
  • Battery: 226kWh (the same as the Sport’s battery, which was good for 4-5 hours of use there)
  • Horsepower: 400hp
  • Top speed: 50mph (~43 knots)
  • Hull Material: Fiberglass
  • Seating: 10 people
  • Pricing: Starting at $168,000

The Arc Coast maintains the benefits of its electric powertrain, which Arc highlights that it designed and built from the ground up. By starting from scratch and designing a boat around its own powertrain, instead of just building a fiberglass hull and attaching an off-the-shelf outboard (like the vast majority of other center console boats) and console gauges from random suppliers, Arc is able to offer a more consistent experience.

It’s the same thing we at Electrek notice and comment on in automobiles – cars that were built from the ground up to be electric generally do a better job of it than cars which are retrofitted from gas models or share platforms with them.

Arc thinks that the difference is even starker in boats, as outboard motors are notoriously unreliable and offering a properly-sealed electric powertrain will make maintenance much easier, even in harsher saltwater environments (as compared to the Sport model, which was more freshwater-focused).

It also offers usability benefits. By moving to inboard motors, the rear of the boat can be utilized for a low swim step, making ingress and egress easier, and a sunpad for lounging. It also takes away the fumes and noise that normally plague the back end of a fossil-powered boat, giving you more usable space and making it much more pleasant to hang out back there.

That usability carries over into the boat’s software, which Arc has also designed from the ground up in a modern, consistent interface. When we saw this ourselves on the Sport we were impressed, though the software wasn’t done yet (and will surely be in a constant state of getting updates for some time to come).

This interface includes connectivity and over-the-air updates, which offer big benefits for a boat owner as it’s a lot easier to check your boat’s charge, or perhaps see a feed from the boat’s cameras, through an app rather than having to head down to the marina and take a look yourself.

We haven’t yet had a chance to try out the Arc Coast – and in fact, you’ll notice that the photos and videos on this page are backlit renders, as Arc is still working on some of the specifics. Nevertheless, preorders are open today over at Arc’s website, and Arc says the boat is “coming in 2026.”


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Archer Aviation becomes the exclusive air taxi provider to the 2028 Olympic Games in LA

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Archer Aviation becomes the exclusive air taxi provider to the 2028 Olympic Games in LA

eVTOL developer Archer Aviation has signed on as the official air taxi partner of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. As a partner to the event and Team USA, Archer’s Midnight eVTOL aircraft will transport VIPs, fans, and athletes around event venues in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Archer Aviation ($ACHR) appears poised to be the first eVTOL developer to bring commercial air taxi rides to the skies above the US. Leading up to today’s news, Archer had announced partnerships to establish zero-emission air taxi networks in several global regions, including Japan and the UAE, and flights in its native US.

For example, Archer unveiled an initial route map for air taxi operations in New York City last month alongside details of an ongoing partnership with United Airlines. The pending air taxi network includes vertiports at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark Airports around NYC and a presence at regional airports and three helipads in the city itself.

The NYC air taxi network was preceded by plans for an eVTOL air mobility network coming to Los Angeles, announced in August 2024. At the time, the company said it is targeting initial eVTOL operations in the Los Angeles metropolitan area by 2026, long before the influx of global visitors for the 2028 Olympic Games.

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Today, Archer announced that it has become the official air taxi provider for visitors to the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Olympic air taxi
Source: Archer Aviation

Archer to take air taxis to the skies above the 2028 Olympic Games

According to an update from Archer Aviation, it has signed a partnership to be the exclusive air taxi provider for the LA28 Olympic Games. In this partnership, Archer Aviation will integrate its flagship Midnight eVTOL aircraft into transport operations and support Team USA

The Archer eVTOL is expected to transport Olympic VIPs, fans, and company stakeholders around the 2028 games’ locations, utilizing vertiport hubs at key venues. The eVTOL developer said its sustainable aerial technology will also support emergency services and security. Per Archer founder and CEO Adam Goldstein:

We want to transform the way people get around Los Angeles and leave a legacy that shapes the future of transportation in America. There’s no better time to do that than during the LA28 Games. I can’t wait to see Midnight flying passengers over Los Angeles, emblazoned with the Team USA logo and the Olympic Rings and Paralympic Agitos. 

eVTOL vertiports are planned for SoFi stadium in Inglewood and the Memorial Coliseum on the USC campus. Other locations include visitor hubs at LAX Airport, Hollywood, Orange County, and Santa Monica. The 2028 Olympic Games are expected to welcome over 15 million visitors from around the world, some of whom will have an opportunity to experience some of the first-ever air taxi rides in the US.

Archer’s Midnight eVTOL can transport up to four passengers at a time and is significantly quieter than other traditional forms of aerial transportation, such as helicopters. The Midnight aircraft will be assembled at Archer’s manufacturing facilities in San Jose, California, and its newly erected facility in Covington, Georgia.

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