OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has publicly expressed confidence that Elon Musk will prioritize national interests over competitive advantages, despite his dual role as owner of rival AI company xAI and close advisor to President-elect Donald Trump. Speaking at the Reuters NEXT conference on Tuesday, Friar stated that OpenAI trusts Musk “as a competitor” to “put first the national interest and compete appropriately.”
The comments come amid a complex web of relationships and tensions in the AI industry. Musk is co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory body alongside Vivek Ramaswamy and maintains close ties to the incoming Trump administration. Recently, Trump appointed David Sacks, a Musk ally and fellow PayPal Mafia member, as the administration’s AI and crypto czar. When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman congratulated Sacks on X, Musk responded with only a laughing emoji, highlighting the ongoing tension between the two tech leaders.
Friar’s remarks echo similar sentiments from Altman, who told The New York Times’ DealBook summit last week that he believes Musk “will do the right thing” and wouldn’t use political power to harm competitors or advantage his own businesses. Altman called such behavior “profoundly un-American,” expressing faith that Musk would act ethically despite their personal feud.
The relationship between Musk and OpenAI has deteriorated significantly since the company’s founding. Musk, an original co-founder and early backer of OpenAI, has been embroiled in legal battles with the organization since March, filing two lawsuits against the company. His legal actions accuse OpenAI and its co-founders of violating the organization’s founding charter by pursuing plans to transition from a non-profit to a for-profit corporate structure, allegedly prioritizing commercial interests over the original mission to benefit humanity.
At the DealBook conference, Altman addressed the feud emotionally, describing it as “tremendously sad” and revealing that he grew up viewing Musk as a “mega hero.” The personal dimension adds poignancy to what has become one of the AI industry’s most high-profile rivalries.
xAI has emerged as a formidable competitor despite launching just 16 months ago. The startup, now valued at $50 billion, has achieved remarkable scale in record time, building a supercomputer in Memphis equipped with 100,000 GPUs, with ambitious plans to expand to at least one million GPUs. This rapid growth positions xAI as a serious challenger to OpenAI’s dominance in the generative AI space.
Key Quotes
We trust him…as a competitor, [Musk] will put first the national interest and compete appropriately
Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s CFO, made this statement at the Reuters NEXT conference, expressing confidence that despite Musk’s political connections and competitive position, he would act ethically and prioritize national interests over business advantages.
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 would hurt competitors and advantage his own businesses
Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, shared this perspective at The New York Times’ DealBook summit, framing ethical competition as a patriotic duty and expressing faith in Musk’s integrity despite their ongoing legal battles and personal feud.
tremendously sad
Altman used this phrase to describe his feud with Musk at the DealBook conference, revealing the emotional toll of their conflict and noting that he once viewed Musk as a ‘mega hero,’ adding a personal dimension to their professional rivalry.
Our Take
OpenAI’s public expressions of trust in Musk appear strategic, establishing a moral framework that could constrain potential abuse of political influence while maintaining high ground in public perception. However, the reality is more complex—xAI’s meteoric rise to $50 billion valuation and massive infrastructure buildout in just 16 months demonstrates the intense competitive threat Musk poses to OpenAI’s market position. The appointment of David Sacks as AI czar, combined with Musk’s DOGE role, creates unprecedented concentration of AI industry influence within Trump’s inner circle. This situation tests whether informal norms and public pressure can prevent conflicts of interest in an industry where government contracts, regulatory decisions, and research funding could determine winners and losers. The outcome will likely establish precedents for how political power and AI industry competition intersect in the coming years.
Why This Matters
This story highlights critical questions about conflicts of interest at the intersection of AI development, political power, and commercial competition. As AI becomes increasingly central to national security and economic competitiveness, the relationship between government influence and private AI companies takes on profound importance. Musk’s unprecedented position—simultaneously advising the incoming president while running a major AI competitor—creates potential conflicts that could shape industry regulation and competitive dynamics.
The public statements from OpenAI leadership suggest an attempt to establish norms around ethical competition despite political connections, which could set precedents for how the AI industry operates under increased government scrutiny. The rapid rise of xAI demonstrates the intense competition and massive capital flowing into AI development, with implications for innovation pace, market concentration, and technological leadership. As the Trump administration prepares to take office with dedicated AI leadership through David Sacks, these relationships will likely influence AI policy, research funding, and regulatory frameworks that affect the entire technology sector and society’s AI future.
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Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-cfo-elon-musk-xai-david-sacks-ai-czar-trump-2024-12