Tesla, X, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s abrupt rupture with President Donald Trump over the administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” threatens to unravel the laissez-faire, Silicon-Valley-led strategy that had guided artificial intelligence (AI) policy since January.
Until last week, Musk was the president’s most influential outside adviser. Musk’s July 2024 endorsement of Trump and sizable financial backing having ushered a corps of technologists into government: venture capitalist David Sacks assumed a new AI-and-crypto remit, former Twitter executive Sriram Krishnan joined the White House policy staff, and a cadre of SpaceX and X alumni took key posts at the freshly created Department of Government Efficiency. Palantir deepened its defense ties to the administration. We will see in the coming months how many of these luminaries will continue to work in Washington, DC. Still,
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!