(Dec 5): OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman dismissed concerns that rival Elon Musk might use his newfound political influence to undercut competitors and benefit his own artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.

“It would be profoundly un-American to use political power to hurt your competitors and advantage your own businesses,” Altman said in an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. “I don’t think people would tolerate that. I don’t think Elon would do it.”

Musk has emerged as a top ally of President-elect Donald Trump, and was recently appointed to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), alongside ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk and Altman have a tense relationship. Musk, who helped launch OpenAI as a non-profit, has spent months pursuing litigation against Altman and the ChatGPT maker for allegedly betraying its founding mission. While OpenAI remains the market leader for generative AI products, Musk’s company, xAI, has rapidly gained momentum by raising billions from investors.

In the interview on Wednesday, Altman called Musk’s startup “a serious competitor” to OpenAI, and said he had “tremendous respect” for Musk’s plans to build an xAI data centre in Tennessee. Altman also expressed disappointment at the state of their relationship.

It’s “tremendously sad”, he said, when asked about Musk’s lawsuit. “I grew up with Elon as a mega hero.”

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