Elon Musk indicated Friday that he will not use his growing influence in the Trump administration to hurt or seek revenge on his industry competitors.
In a post on his social platform X, Musk wrote, "They are right," after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos both remarked this week they do not believe he will abuse his relationship with President-elect Trump to benefit his competitive standing.
Observers raised concerns this week that Musk's increasing closeness and influence within Trump's orbit could lead to intimidation of his adversaries.
These fears have been compounded by Trump's repeated pledges for revenge against his own perceived enemies, and some observers suggested Musk could echo and carry out the same rhetoric.
Critics pointed to various instances of Musk calling out Trump's detractors in recent weeks, including remarks about Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who played a key role in Trump's first impeachment trail, and special counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor behind the Justice Department's now-dismissed cases against the president-elect.
Musk recently accused Vindman of treason, adding "he will pay the appropriate penalty."
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has repeatedly clashed with ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Altman, whom he accused of manipulating him into supporting the artificial intelligence (AI) endeavor by convincing him it would develop safe and transparent AI.
He has an ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI for allegedly abandoning its founding principles as a nonprofit to become a for-profit company.
Altman said Wednesday he was “tremendously sad” over his tension with Musk and despite concerns, pushed back against suggestions the billionaire will use his allyship with Trump to harm OpenAI.
“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,” he told the New York Times DealBook conference.
Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post and aerospace company Blue Origin, expressed similar feelings about Musk in spite of their repeated spats in recent years.
The Amazon owner told the DealBook conference he took Musk "at face value" and does not believe he will attempt to punish his enemies.
“I’ve had a lot of success in life not being cynical — and I very rarely have been taken advantage of as a result,” Bezos said, adding, “Why be cynical about that?”
