OpenAI's Sam Altman 'not that worried' about rival Elon Musk's influence in the Trump administration
abcnews.go.comOpenAI CEO Sam Altman is locked in a legal dispute with rival Elon Musk
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is in a legal dispute with rival Elon Musk, said he is “not that worried” about Musk's influence in the incoming Trump administration.
Altman told a New York Times conference Wednesday that he “may turn out to be wrong” but he strongly believes that Musk will do the right thing.
«It would be profoundly un-American to use political power, to the degree that Elon has it, to hurt your competitors and advantage your own businesses,» Altman said. «And I don’t think people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do it.”
Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company earlier this year alleging that the maker of ChatGPT betrayed its founding aims of benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits. Musk recently escalated the lawsuit by asking a federal judge to stop OpenAI's plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully.
President-elect Donald Trump is putting Musk, the world’s richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is an outside advisory committee that will work with people inside the government to reduce spending and regulations.
Musk, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and social media platform X, has started his own rival AI company, xAI, that Altman said he considers a serious competitor.
Asked about his frayed relationship with Musk, Altman said he felt “tremendously sad” but also characterized Musk's legal fight as one about business competition.
“He’s a competitor and we’re doing well,” Altman said.
Altman also addressed
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