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Elon Musk’s role in the coming Trump administration reportedly has some of his business rivals worried — including his OpenAI co-founder, Sam Altman.
In November, Musk expanded his lawsuit against the AI startup and several of its co-founders and added its investor and partner Microsoft (MSFT-1.47%) as a defendant. The expanded lawsuit accuses OpenAI of anticompetitive behavior, calling it a “market-paralyzing gorgon.” Later in the month, Musk’s attorneys filed a preliminary injunction against the AI startup, several of its co-founders, and Microsoft to stop its transition to a for-profit company.
The expanded lawsuit and Musk’s disdain for Altman (Musk has called Altman “Swindly Sam”) made the OpenAI CEO feel “blindsided,” the Wall Street Journal (NWSA+1.60%) reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.
With Musk’s close ties to President-elect Donald Trump, Altman and other tech leaders who have drawn Musk’s ire, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, are worried about the influence Musk will have on tech and business regulation, people told the Wall Street Journal. Musk has touted his coming role as co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Vivek Ramaswamy under the coming administration — a commission that will be charged with auditing the “entire” federal government.
“It’s known that he’s PNG [persona non grata],” a person close to the Trump family told the Wall Street Journal about Altman.
Meanwhile, Altman has reportedly reached out to his connections in Trump’s circle, including the President-elect’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his brother, Joshua Kushner, head of major OpenAI investor Thrive Capital. Altman also reportedly asked a mutual friend to set up a meeting with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary.
Neither OpenAI nor spokespeople for Trump or Musk immediately responded to a request for comment.
Musk previously sued OpenAI and Altman in February, alleging that the ChatGPT-maker’s partnership with Microsoft betrayed its founding commitment to benefiting humanity over generating profit. He dropped the lawsuit in June before filing another similar lawsuit in August.
The billionaire was one of the co-founders of OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left in 2018 over a conflict of interest with the company’s development. Last July, Musk announced his own AI venture, xAI, with a goal to “understand the true nature of the universe.”