OpenAI Pitches Its Usefulness to Trump Amid Musk Rivalry

There’s a new variable in the Sam Altman/Elon Musk rivalry: President-elect Donald Trump.

As the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Dec. 15), executives at Altman’s OpenAI have been preparing to deal with the next administration, though that process has been made more complicated by Musk’s recent closeness to Trump.

According to the report, the artificial intelligence (AI) firm is among Musk’s rivals trying to determine how the Tesla/X/SpaceA/xAI head might use his new position.

“I believe pretty strongly that Elon will do the right thing and that 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 during an interview during a New York Times conference last week.

While both Trump and Musk have said that the world’s richest man would put country over business, others aren’t so sure, the report said.

“No one believes that for a second,” an attorney who has tangled with Musk told the FT.

Musk and Altman founded OpenAI together in 2015, though their relationship has since soured. Musk has sued Altman and OpenAI, accusing OpenAI of veering away from its nonprofit origins, and has tried to nullify the company’s multibillion-dollar partnership with Microsoft.

Musk is “unique,” said OpenAI’s policy chief Chris Lehane, who said the company’s strategy would be to “control what we can control.”

He added that OpenAI was stressing its importance to Trump on a few fronts, from bolstering the company to improving U.S. competitiveness against countries like China.

“At the end of the day, every American, in or out of government [is] going to want to put the interest of the U.S. first,” Lehane said. “This administration talked over the campaign and since about the imperative of … U.S.-led AI prevailing. If you want that to happen, then OpenAI is going to have to be in the mix.”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS wrote last week about new analysis from Wharton School experts arguing that the future of AI regulation in the U.S. is uncertain ahead of D.C. leadership changes. While the Biden White House has pushed for AI safety protocols, Trump campaign advisers and donors advocated for reduced AI restrictions.

“States aren’t waiting for federal clarity,” PYMNTS wrote. “Approximately 700 AI-related bills are under consideration nationwide, even as companies implement their voluntary safety measures to prevent discrimination and protect users.”

The post OpenAI Pitches Its Usefulness to Trump Amid Musk Rivalry appeared first on PYMNTS.com.