OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says it’d be ‘un-American’ for Elon Musk to wield political influence to harm rivals

In Brief

During an interview at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that it’d be “profoundly un-American” for Elon Musk, the CEO of X and Tesla, to wield political influence to “hurt competitors” and “advantage [his] own businesses.”

“I don’t think people would tolerate that,” he said, per Bloomberg.

Musk, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, is heading up DOGE, a planned advisory commission that’ll recommend deep cuts to federal agencies. Musk, who owns an OpenAI competitor, xAI, will reportedly also have input into incoming President Donald Trump’s AI policy lead, should Trump decide to appoint one.

Musk is suing OpenAI, accusing the company of abandoning its original mission and harming rivals like xAI through anticompetitive behavior. Altman, who in the interview called xAI a “serious competitor,” said that he’s “tremendously sad” about the suit.

“I thought what Elon was doing was absolutely incredible for the world, and I have different feelings about him now, but I’m glad he exists,” Altman said.

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