Elon Musk's DOGE Develops Custom AI Chatbot 'GSAi' for US Government Efficiency

Elon Musk-led DOGE's big plan for the US government: Replace humans with AI tools and automate majority of jobs

Elon Musk's all-new Department of Government Efficiency is currently hell-bent on shrinking the federal work force, and is now planning on boosting attrition by depressing work morale. Automation of work roles is also one of DOGE's current agendaThe Department of Government Efficiency is trying to consistently adapt new measures to cut down the federal workforce to a minimum through various means, and is now resorting to means like making buildings and commute facilities 'below par' so that employees take a decision to up and quit. This new technique for boosting attrition has surfaced in a new report, says a Fortune report. Shrinking the federal workforce by using various means could reportedly be the first step towards automating a part of the federal workforce, say reports. Once a chunk of employees quit, DOGE staffers would then try to use AI tools to government records and attempt understanding the way they could replace humans and utilize AI for these jobs instead. Everything that can be automated through AI could immediately see layoff of the human workforce and the 'technocrats would then replace the bureaucrats'. DOGE is even reportedly planning on developing a Chatbot for the federal government's GSA, which would assist in analyzing various kinds of documents and contracts. That would help in getting more work done and boost employee productivity at the GSA. All of this comes along the lines of President Trump's administration giving federal employees the option to resign voluntarily or face a layoff spree. However, that has moved towards a legal battle now, with a judge recently blocking this call by the federal government. Who is currently leading the Department of Government Efficiency? The Department of Government Efficiency is currently being led by Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk. What is the full form of DOGE? DOGE stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, which is a non-federal department recently formed by new US President Donald Trump.

DOGE is reportedly developing an AI chatbot to analyse government contracts

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is reportedly developing a custom AI chatbot for use by U.S. government employees. It looks as though Elon Musk is hoping to use AI to replace the millions of workers he wants to cut. WIRED reports that DOGE is building an generative AI chatbot for use by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), an independent government agency which manages federal buildings, IT infrastructure, and professional supplies. Called "GSAi," DOGE's custom chatbot is apparently intended to increase federal employees' productivity. Specifically, DOGE reportedly intends to use the chatbot to analyse the GSA's contracts and draft documents. In audio obtained by WIRED, GSA's Technology Transformation Services (TTS) head Thomas Shedd claimed that this AI project wasn't new, and had already been underway "before we started." A mechanical engineer who had worked at Tesla for eight years, Shedd was appointed to the GSA within days of President Donald Trump's inauguration. He quickly made clear his intent to implement artificial intelligence and automation throughout the U.S. government, including training AI to code government software for multiple different agencies. "The thing that's different is potentially building that whole system in-house and building it very quickly," said Shedd, as reported by WIRED. "This goes back to this, 'how do we understand how the government is spending money?'" Trump began drastic federal spending cuts upon taking office less than three weeks ago, with GSA staff reportedly expected to reduce the agency's budget by 50 percent. Cost cutting measures at the GSA will reportedly include job cuts, as well as terminating leases on all federal offices (of which there are approximately 7,500). Presumably Trump and Musk hope to eliminate enough jobs that they won't need the spaces despite the return-to-office order for federal employees. DOGE had reportedly considered using AI tools which already exist, but decided to build GSAi after determining that current models wouldn't offer all the data it wanted. It has still found use for existing AI tools in other instances, though. Earlier this week the Washington Post reported that DOGE fed sensitive data from the U.S. Department of Education into AI software to analyse its spending. While AI chatbots are an interesting novelty, they are frequently inaccurate and misleading, making relying upon them for important projects a dangerous proposition. Even so, Musk and Trump appear to be hoping that AI technology will offset the countless federal employees they're planning to dismiss. DOGE has been on a mission to drastically cut the federal workforce, presenting approximately two million employees with an apparent "buyout" offer last week. In response, many federal workers have resolved to "hold the line," refusing to resign and be replaced by Trump and Musk loyalists -- if they're replaced at all.

Elon Musk's DOGE is building a government AI called GSAi

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is developing a custom generative AI chatbot called "GSAi" for the US General Services Administration, as part of President Donald Trump's initiative to modernize the federal government according to a recent WIRED report. The initiative aims to enhance the productivity of the approximately 12,000 GSA employees responsible for managing office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure. Additionally, the project seeks to leverage AI tools to analyze substantial amounts of procurement and contract data, according to two anonymous sources familiar with the project. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla employee and head of the GSA's Teadihnology Transformation Services, indicated that the project aims to create a centralized database for analyzing contracts to better understand government spending. "This is not new at all -- this is something that's been in motion before we started," Shedd stated in a recent meeting, clarifying that the approach involves building the system in-house and at an accelerated pace. The decision to create GSAi follows previous discussions between the GSA and Google regarding its Gemini offering. While chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini have gained popularity in corporate America, guidance during the Biden administration encouraged government employees to exercise caution in adopting new technologies. In contrast, Trump has directed his administration to remove barriers related to AI, pushing DOGE to implement AI tools rapidly. Musk's team has recently implemented cost-cutting measures across the federal government, which has been operating under an increasing deficit. The Office of Personnel Management has reportedly urged federal employees to resign if they cannot return to the office full-time, promoting a culture of loyalty and efficiency. SEC lawsuit puts Elon Musk in the hot seat over Twitter buyout The GSAi project is expected to streamline operations within the GSA, enabling employees to complete tasks such as drafting memos more efficiently. Although the GSA initially considered using existing software like Google Gemini, they ultimately determined it did not meet their data analysis needs. Additionally, DOGE is looking into deploying "AI coding agents" to enhance productivity by automatically generating and editing software code. The GSA has retracted initial approval for using a coding assistant named Cursor, developed by the startup Anysphere, for further review. Instead, DOGE is now pursuing Microsoft's GitHub Copilot as their coding assistant. The federal government's interest in AI is not new. In October 2023, President Biden instructed the GSA to prioritize security assessments for various categories of AI tools. Yet none of the proposed tools received preliminary review under the FedRAMP program by the end of Biden's term, resulting in no AI coding solutions being authorized. Various agencies under the Biden administration explored AI tools, with claims to pursue licensing of coding tools like GitHub Copilot and Google's Gemini. Guidance issued during Biden's administration highlighted the need to balance efficiency gains against potential risks associated with AI technology. Musk's DOGE has also accessed sensitive financial data from the Education Department using AI tools via Microsoft Azure, aiming to evaluate spending across various programs. Reports indicate that DOGE intends to replicate data analysis across multiple federal departments, scrutinizing costs associated with initiatives such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Education Department, stated that DOGE representatives operate with necessary security clearances and are focused on improving efficiency and accountability within the department.

Elon Musk, President Trump, and DOGE working on custom chatbot called GSAi for US government

TL;DR: Elon Musk and President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency are developing "GSAi," a generative AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration. The project aims to modernize the federal government and enhance productivity by analyzing contract and procurement data. The initiative is part of an AI-first agenda to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Elon Musk and President Trump's sweeping new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are working on developing "GSAi", a custom generative AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration. In a new report from WIRED, we're being told that GSAi is part of the AI-first agenda of President Trump, modernizing the US federal government using advanced AI technology. One of those goals is to boost the day-to-day productivity of GSA's roughly 12,000 employees, who are tasked with managing office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure across the federal government. SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk and his team hope to use the GSAi chatbot alongside other AI tools to analyze huge amounts of contract and procurement data according to WIRED's sources, both of which were granted anonymity because they "aren't authorized to speak publicly about the agency's operations". Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla employee who now runs Technology Transformation Services, the technology arm of the GSA, alluded to the project in a meeting on Wednesday. WIRED got a hold of an audio recording, where Shedd said: "Another [project] I'm trying to work on is a centralized place for contracts so we can run analysis on them. This is not new at all-this is something that's been in motion before we started. The thing that's different is potentially building that whole system in-house and building it very quickly. This goes back to this, 'How do we understand how the government is spending money?'" DOGE has been hacking and slashing costs across the US government, with the AI side of DOGE pushing to reduce the federal budget even more, with GSAi hoping to speed up some of this along the way. DOGE members at the Department of Education are reportedly using AI tools to analyze spending and programs, with the US General Services Administration's upcoming GSAi chatbot project expected to have similar benefits.

Elon Musk's DOGE Is Working on a Custom Chatbot Called GSAi

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is pushing to rapidly develop "GSAi," a custom generative AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration, according to two people familiar with the project. The plan is part of President Donald Trump's AI-first agenda to modernize the federal government with advanced technology. One goal of the initiative, which hasn't been previously reported, is to boost the day-to-day productivity of the GSA's roughly 12,000 employees, who are tasked with managing office buildings, contracts, and IT infrastructure across the federal government, according to the two people. Musk's team also seemingly hopes to use the chatbot and other AI tools to analyze huge swaths of contract and procurement data, one of them says. Both people were granted anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak publicly about the agency's operations. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla employee who now runs Technology Transformation Services, the technology arm of the GSA, alluded to the project in a meeting on Wednesday. "Another [project] I'm trying to work on is a centralized place for contracts so we can run analysis on them," he said, according to an audio recording obtained by WIRED. "This is not new at all -- this is something that's been in motion before we started. The thing that's different is potentially building that whole system in-house and building it very quickly. This goes back to this, 'how do we understand how the government is spending money?'" The decision to develop a custom chatbot follows discussions between the GSA and Google about its Gemini offering, according to one of the people. Got a Tip? Are you a current or former government worker with insight into what's going on? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely using a personal device on Signal at peard33.24. While chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini have been adopted across corporate America for tasks like writing emails and generating images, executive orders and other guidance issued during the Biden administration generally instructed government staff to be cautious about adopting emerging technologies. President Donald Trump has taken a different approach, ordering his lieutenants to strip away any barriers to the US exerting "global AI dominance." Heeding that demand, Musk's government efficiency team has moved swiftly in recent weeks to bring aboard more AI tools, according to reports published by WIRED and other media. Overall, the Trump administration may be engaging in the most chaotic upheaval of the federal bureaucracy in the modern computer era. Some Trump supporters have celebrated the changes, but federal employees, labor unions, Democrats in Congress, and civil society groups have heavily criticized them, arguing in some cases they may be unconstitutional. While DOGE hasn't publicly changed its stance, the team quietly halted the rollout of at least one generative AI tool this week, according to two people familiar with the project. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Elon Musk's DOGE Training an AI to Analyze Government Spending

Billionaire Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is ripping through the federal government's agencies at a breakneck pace -- to the horror of many, but perhaps particularly IT professionals and cybersecurity experts. As part of their efforts to analyze huge swaths of sensitive data, Wired reports, DOGE is training a custom AI chatbot for the US General Services Administration (GSA), which manages office buildings and IT infrastructure across the federal government. According to the publication's sources, the purported goal is to sift through contracts and procurement data to get a better sense of where the government's money is being spent. Needless to say, introducing an inherently flawed and wildly unreliable technology and allowing it to access copious amounts of sensitive data could have disastrous outcomes. Former president Joe Biden introduced an executive order for the "safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of AI" in 2023, which was focused on preventing AI-enabled threats to national security, among other goals. But on his first day in office, president Donald Trump revoked the order, setting the stage for a far more loose and potentially reckless, Silicon Valley-inspired "move fast and break things" approach. In other words, the development of an AI chatbot intended to make sweeping budgetary recommendations for the federal government is part of a much larger "AI-first strategy" -- unintended consequences be damned. We've long known that the tech has an tendency to hallucinate facts and leak sensitive data, making it an incredibly poor fit for the job. In an audio recording obtained by Wired, former Tesla employee and current head of the government's Technology Transformation Services Thomas Shedd argued that the development of a "centralized place for contracts so we can run analysis on them" was "not new at all." "This goes back to this, 'How do we understand how the government is spending money?'" he said in the recording. But the swift embrace of AI tech is already hitting major hurdles. According to Wired's sources, DOGE's team "quietly halted the rollout of at least one generative AI tool this week." The shadowy group of Elon Musk cronies had also hoped to employ an AI coding assistant called Cursor, but quickly changed their mind "for further review," according to Wired. Instead, DOGE has been pushing workers to use Microsoft's GitHub Copilot instead. Despite the repeated slip-ups, DOGE has already started making use of AI tools within the Department of Education, as the Washington Post reported earlier this week, feeding sensitive data into AI software. It remains to be seen whether the GSA's AI chatbot will bear any fruit, even if by meaningfully speeding up DOGE's efforts to slash government funding. But given the flaws of the tech, the cracks may soon start to show.

Is Elon Musk-led DOGE using AI to help rewrite a large chunk of the federal government's computer systems? Here's what a leaked video is revealing

One of the ideas discussed was the creation of "AI coding agents," which would be trained on existing government software to help automate and simplify tasks. These AI tools could build a centralized database of government contracts to analyze and manage them more efficiently.A leaked audio recording has exposed the Trump administration's bold plan to overhaul the federal government's computer systems using AI, reported Daily Beast. This move is spearheaded by one of Elon Musk's associates in a high-level government role. The recording of a recent meeting, revealed Thomas Shedd, former Tesla engineer and now a key figure at the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services (TTS), discussing the administration's strategy to integrate AI throughout federal operations to enhance efficiency, as per the report. According to a Daily Beast report, Shedd shared his ambitious vision for AI-driven changes, including creating "AI coding agents" to automate government processes and centralizing sensitive data like government contracts. However, concerns quickly arose when Shedd suggested aggregating employees' personal data in a manner that would violate privacy laws without consent. When an employee raised this issue, he responded that the government would "try to get consent" but that shouldn't stop them from moving ahead with the project, as per the report. The report quoted him saying "If we hit a roadblock, then we hit a roadblock." He also said, "We still should push forward and see what we can do." According to 404 Media, Shedd sounded like a company executive looking to cut costs in a bid to please shareholders rather than a federal employee building systems for public benefit. Cybersecurity experts claimed that automating the government isn't the same as automating a self-driving car, reported Wired. The expert said "This does raise red flags," as quoted by Wired. Despite these warnings, reports indicate that Musk's team has already made changes to the Treasury Department's payment system, which handles the majority of federal payments. These adjustments seem to focus on creating pathways to block payments, potentially reducing transparency, reported Daily Beast. What is the Trump administration's plan for using AI in government systems? The Trump administration plans to use AI to streamline and modernize federal government processes, as per a report. Who is leading this initiative? Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer and now head of the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services (TTS), is leading the push for AI integration into the federal government.

DOGE reportedly seeking to develop 'GSAi' government chatbot - SiliconANGLE

DOGE reportedly seeking to develop 'GSAi' government chatbot The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is reportedly working on a chatbot dubbed GSAi to make federal workers more productive. Wired on Thursday cited sources as saying that the chatbot is being developed for the U.S General Services Administration. The GSA is an agency with about 12,000 employees that manages federal buildings and vehicles. Additionally, it helps other federal agencies run procurement programs. Initially, the GSA reportedly held talks with Google LLC about using the company's Gemini chatbot to support its artificial intelligence efforts. Gemini is a chatbot powered by an eponymous series of large language models. According to Wired, the GSA decided to develop its custom GSAi chatbot after finding that Google's Gemini didn't meet the project's requirements. It's unclear what LLM will power GSAi. GSA might seek to develop a custom LLM or fine-tune an existing, perhaps open-source, model, which would be faster and more cost-efficient. A third possibility is that the agency will adopt a proprietary cloud-hosted LLM. According to Wired, one goal of the GSA's custom chatbot is to make staffers more productive. Additionally, DOGE plans to use the assistant to analyze data about the agency's procurement agreements and other contracts. Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla Inc. employee who now leads the GSA's technology group, recently discussed the project in an internal meeting. He described GSAi as a "centralized place for contracts so we can run analysis on them," Wired reported. Shedd detailed that "this is not new at all -- this is something that's been in motion before we started. The thing that's different is potentially building that whole system in-house and building it very quickly." Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that DOGE is using AI to analyze the U.S Education Department's internal documents. Similarly to the GSA's chatbot project, the initiative is said to focus on contracts and other documents that contain financial data. DOGE reportedly intends to "replicate this process across many departments and agencies." According to the Post, the AI software being used to analyze the Education Department's data runs in Microsoft Corp.'s Azure platform. This raises the possibility that DOGE might decide to build GSAi on Azure as well. The cloud platform provides access to Microsoft-developed LLMs, as well models from the open-source ecosystem and partners such OpenAI.. Besides boosting employee productivity and analyzing procurement data, the GSA's AI push reportedly has a third goal. It's believed the agency is seeking to make its software development teams more efficient. As part of the effort, GSA reportedly sought to deploy the popular Cursor code editor. The software is based on Microsoft's popular VS Code programming tool. Cursor extends the tool's feature set with a chatbot that can generate code based on natural language prompts. GSA's technology team reportedly approved Cursor for internal use, but later reversed course and launched a review of the tool. The reason for the decision is that Cursor's developer doesn't have plans to achieve FedRAMP authorization in the near future. FedRAMP is a program that requires software makers to undergo cybersecurity evaluations before selling their products to the government. In lieu of Cursor, GSA now reportedly plans to adopt Microsoft's GitHub Copilot programming assistant. The latter tool relied solely on OpenAI models to generate code when it launched in 2021. Last year, Microsoft added support for other models including the LLM series that powers Google's Gemini chatbot.

Musk's DOGE wants to overhaul the government with AI

The big picture: It's almost impossible to introduce AI successfully overnight -- and the less carefully and transparently it's rolled out, the more likely it is to go awry. Driving the news: In a Monday meeting at the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer recently appointed as director of TTS, outlined broad plans to implement AI across the federal government as a tool to automate tasks, write code and combine systems across agencies. Our thought bubble: AI could and probably will eventually help make government more efficient. But voters and workers have to be able to trust that it's being introduced transparently and thoughtfully.

The 'custom chatbot' DOGE is reportedly building for the GSA.

A report from Wired looks at attempts to plug AI technology into the General Services Administration (along with other departments). According to one source, DOGE's push is for using AI tools "to analyze huge swaths of contract and procurement data" with a custom GSAi chatbot. It also notes other shifting AI approaches, with coding assistant Cursor reportedly approved then retracted, and a new push to use Microsoft's GitHub Copilot.

Elon Musk Ally Tells Staff 'AI-First' Is the Future of Key Government Agency

Sources say the former Tesla engineer now in charge of the Technology Transformation Services wants an agency that operates like a "startup software company." In a Monday morning meeting, Thomas Shedd, the recently appointed Technology Transformation Services director and Elon Musk ally, told General Services Administration workers that the agency's new administrator is pursuing an "AI-first strategy," sources tell WIRED. Throughout the meeting, Shedd shared his vision for a GSA that operates like a "startup software company," automating different internal tasks and centralizing data from across the federal government. The Monday meeting, held in-person and on Google Meet, comes days after WIRED reported that many of Musk's associates have migrated to jobs at the highest levels of the GSA and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Prior to joining TTS, which is housed within the GSA, Shedd was a software engineer at Tesla, one of Musk's companies. The transition has caused mass confusion amongst GSA staffers who have been thrown into surprise one-on-one meetings, forced to present their code -- often to young engineers who did not identify themselves -- and left wondering what the future of the agency's tech task force will look like. Shedd attempted to answer these questions on Monday, providing details around a number of projects the agency will pursue over the coming weeks and months. His particular focus, sources say, was an increased role for AI not just at GSA, but at agencies government-wide. In what he described as an "AI-first strategy," sources say, Shedd provided a handful of examples of projects GSA acting administrator Stephen Ehikian is looking to prioritize, including the development of "AI coding agents" that would be made available for all agencies. Shedd made it clear that he believes much of the work at TTS and the broader government, particularly around finance tasks, could be automated. "This does raise red flags," a cybersecurity expert who was granted anonymity due to concerns of retaliation told WIRED on Monday, who noted that automating the government isn't the same as automating other things, like self-driving cars. "People, especially people who aren't experts in the subject domain, coming into projects often think 'this is dumb' and then find out how hard the thing really is." Shedd instructed employees to think of TTS as a software startup that had become financially unstable. He suggested that the federal government needs a centralized data repository, and that he was actively working with others on a strategy to create one, although it wasn't clear where this repository would be based or if these projects would comply with privacy laws. Shedd referred to these concerns as a "roadblock" and said that the agency should still push forward to see what was possible. Got a Tip? Are you a current or former government worker with insight into what's going on? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely using a personal device on Signal at makenakelly.32. Sources say that during the call Shedd tightly connected TTS and the United States Digital Services -- rebranded as the United States DOGE Service, or DOGE, under Trump -- as "pillars" of a new technological strategy. Later in the meeting, he said that there was no plan to merge the two groups and that projects would flow through them both depending on available staff and expertise, but continued emphasizing the upcoming collaboration between TTS and DOGE. Employees, sources say, also asked questions about the young engineers, who had previously not been identifying themselves in meetings. Shedd said that one of them felt comfortable enough to introduce himself in meetings on Monday, sources say, though Shedd added that he was nervous about their names being publicly revealed and their lives upended. Shedd was unable to answer many staff questions about the deferred resignations, the return to office mandate, or if the agency's staff would face substantial cuts, according to sources. At one point, Shedd indicated that workforce cuts were likely for TTS, but declined to give more details. (Similar questions were also asked of Department of Government Efficiency leadership in a Friday meeting first reported by WIRED.) Towards the end of the call, sources say, a TTS worker asked if they would be expected to work more than 40 hours per week, to deal with all of the upcoming work and potentially laid off workers. Shedd responded that it was "unclear."

'Things Are Going to Get Intense:' How a Musk Ally Plans to Push AI on the Government

404 Media has obtained audio of a meeting held by Thomas Shedd, a Musk-associate who is now heading a team of government coders. In the call one employee pushed back and said one of the planned moves is an "illegal task." Thomas Shedd, a Musk-associate and now head of the General Services Administration's Technology Transformation Services (TTS), told government tech workers in a meeting this week that the administration plans to widely deploy AI throughout the government. Shedd also said the administration would need help altering login.gov, a government login system, to further integrate with sensitive systems like social security "to further identify individuals and detect and prevent fraud," which employees identified on the meeting as "an illegal task." Shedd, who is a former Tesla engineer, said the government should "try to get consent," regarding login.gov changes but that "we should still push forward and see what we can do." WIRED and the New York Times previously reported on aspects of the meeting. 404 Media has now obtained audio of the full meeting and quotes it extensively below. Shedd told TTS workers that the administration would need help making radical changes to various government systems: "Things are going to get intense," he said. These potential changes, he said, would include things like creating "AI coding agents" that would write government software for many different agencies and would be trained in part on existing government contracts, larger scale automations of government, and, critically, changes to Login.gov" "Just like a fun one that we've been thinking through with Login, specifically in TTS is, as most of you know, Login can't access government information on individuals. And so there's no connection that Login has with social security or any other government system, even though we're part of the government," Shedd said. "And so part of one of the things to work through is how do we make it so that those agencies that has that information of very secure APIs that can be leveraged by login to further identify individuals and detect and prevent fraud?" "I'm not saying that this is an easy task, but it is a task that's worth trying to pursue and one that only we can do as an internal team, right? We can't bring a third party in, hire them and have them work on a project like this. It has to be an internal technology team that works on this," Shedd continued. During a question-and-answer session, a government employee told Shedd that The Privacy Act forbids agencies sharing personal information without consent. "I think we were on the topic of login aggregating data. It's an illegal task," the employee question, which was read aloud by a woman facilitating the meeting, said. "The Privacy Act forbids agencies sharing personal information without consent." "The idea would be that folks would give consent to help with the login flow," Shedd said. "But again, that's an example of something that we have a vision, that needs worked on, and needs clarified. And if we hit a roadblock, then we hit a roadblock. But we still should push forward and see what we can do." Currently, Login.gov says it is "for account access and sign in only. This account does not affect or have any information related to the specific agency you are trying to access." A FAQ about its current integration with the Social Security Administration says a user's "account does not affect or have any information about your Social Security card, number, or benefits. Please do not send Login.gov sensitive data about yourself or identifying numbers." Throughout the entire meeting, Shedd painted a vision of the federal government where a small group of coders under his leadership would revolutionize the way government works. He said, for example, that he would need help creating "AI coding agents" that would write software across the entire federal government. He proposed creating a centralized database of contracts that could be "analyzed." "We want to start implementing more AI at the agency level and be an example for how other agencies can start leveraging AI ... that's one example of something that we're looking for people to work on," Shedd said. "Things like making AI coding agents available for all agencies. One that we've been looking at and trying to work on immediately within GSA, but also more broadly, is a centralized place to put contracts so we can run analysis on those contracts." The comments also highlight how Musk's allies are treating the federal government as a private company that needs to cut costs to please shareholders. "Both what I've seen, and what the administration sees, is you all are one of the most respected technology groups in the federal government," Shedd told TTS workers. "You guys have been doing this far longer than I've been even aware that your group exists." An employee familiar with Shedd's comments told 404 Media that "the reaction of the team, the whole group of 18F and TTS is pretty unanimously negative." 18F is a group within TTS that helps build software across the government. The employee said that it feels to them like 18F itself is being gutted and that the administration hopes its best coders will work for DOGE or a group that Musk has more control over: "The administration views TTS and 18F as a pool of talent that it will draw from, that it will poach from. And it will take the people from TTS that it wants, and then most of the organization will wither away." "We should still push forward and see what we can do." They said that the idea of using AI coding agents in the federal government would be a major security risk, and that training them on existing federal contracts raises red flags considering that Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has billions of dollars worth of federal contracts. 404 Media granted the employee anonymity to talk about sensitive issues in an administration that has targeted those who speak out. "The AI-ification of government is contradictory to security practices that have existed up to now," the employee said. "Government software is concerned with things like foreign adversaries attempting to insert backdoors into government code. With code generated by AI, it seems possible that security vulnerabilities could be introduced unintentionally. Or could be introduced intentionally via an AI-related exploit that creates obfuscated code that includes vulnerabilities that might expose the data of American citizens or of national security importance." Shedd started the meeting talking about the need to shrink the government workforce, something Trump and Musk has been pushing for. That in turn creates an opportunity for more automation, Shedd said. "Because as we decrease the overall size of the federal government, as you all know, there's still a ton of programs that need to exist, which is this huge opportunity for technology and automation to come in full force, which is why you all are so key and critical to this next phase," he said. "It is the time to build because, as I was saying, the demand for technical services is going to go through the roof." "Which means things are going to get intense. Like across the board in every agency, the demand on all of us is going to go up," he added. One employee asked if it is "currently illegal to work more than 40 hours a week. Is that going to change?" "Unclear at this point," Shedd said. "I think, yeah, this goes back to HR. HR guidance is the best to follow in terms of rules and official guidance." Other parts of the meeting focused on the now-infamous "Fork in the Road" email sent to all members of the federal government, in which the Office of Personnel Management offered buyouts that may or may not have funding. Many members of 18F and TTS work entirely remotely and near no major government office, and so workers were worried about whether they would be forced to move or would lose their jobs. The deadline to take the buyout is Thursday, a date Shedd referenced multiple times. The work "will be intense and it will be in person," Shedd said. "And so please think deeply about this coming Thursday and what that means for you." Musk is now in charge of the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, which was formerly the United States Digital Service, a group established to help the government modernize its technology under Barack Obama. Since Trump took office, several media outlets reported that Musk and a small group of young engineers from Musk's private companies have seized control of Federal infrastructure, gaining access to the Treasury Department's payment system, classified information at USAID, and have removed several programs or mere mentions of "DEI" across a number of government agencies and websites. 404 Media previously reported that DOGE brought in an HR consultant focused on "non-woke" DEI she says is more consistent with Christianity. GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk Allies Discuss Deploying A.I. to Find Budget Savings

Sign up for the On Tech newsletter. Get our best tech reporting from the week. Get it sent to your inbox. As Elon Musk sweeps through the federal government, those close to the billionaire are touting one particular tool in their arsenal: artificial intelligence. Mr. Musk, who leads a bevy of technology companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, X and xAI, has been tasked by the Trump administration with drastically reducing federal spending through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In the first two weeks of the administration, the group has upended federal agencies and urged workers to resign in order to reduce costs. Musk allies who have taken on roles inside government agencies are evaluating how to harness A.I. to identify budget cuts and detect waste and abuse, according to people familiar with internal conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. On Monday, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who was appointed by the new administration to head technology efforts at the General Services Administration, told some staffers that A.I. would be a key part of their cost-reduction work, according to four people with knowledge of the conversation. At the agency, some staffers have been informed that they will be expected to cut 50 percent of its budget. The agency houses the Technology Transformation Services, a group of roughly 700 technologists that Mr. Musk's DOGE has seen as a key resource of engineering talent. Members of DOGE -- who Mr. Shedd has referred to in internal messages as his "advisers" -- have spent the past two weeks interviewing workers, asking them to describe their technical accomplishments and identify co-workers who exhibit "exceptional" talent. What you should know. The Times makes a careful decision any time it uses an anonymous source. The information the source supplies must be newsworthy and give readers genuine insight. Learn more about our process. Meeting with T.T.S. members Monday, Mr. Shedd said he hoped to pool all government contracts in a central database and use artificial intelligence to assess them for potential redundancies and budget reductions, the people familiar with the discussion said. He noted that the acting G.S.A. administrator, a Trump appointee and Salesforce executive named Stephen Ehikian, is maintaining an A.I. strategy document. A.I. could also be used as a tool to detect fraud and waste, Mr. Shedd added. Neither G.S.A. nor Mr. Shedd responded to requests for comment. While both the Trump and Biden administrations have signaled an interest in increasing federal spending on the use of A.I. technologies across government, it's unclear if the emerging technology could be used to identify overspending or fraud as Mr. Musk's allies envision. In public discussions, Mr. Musk has, with little evidence, portrayed the U.S. government as rampant with billions of dollars in fraud that can be excised with hard work and technological know-how. President Trump has defended Mr. Musk's vast reach and the tactics he has used to shake up the federal bureaucracy. "He's got a team of very talented people, and we're trying to shrink government, and he can probably shrink it as well as anybody else, if not better," Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday. Trump Administration: Live Updates Updated Feb. 3, 2025, 6:54 p.m. ET39 minutes ago Jeffries works with N.Y. Democrats to weaken G.O.P. control of the House.Chris Wright is confirmed to be secretary of energy. Trump calls for a sovereign wealth fund in an executive order. Mr. Musk has been bullish on building A.I. systems at his companies, while simultaneously warning that the powerful technology could destroy humanity if he does not control it. Mr. Musk leads xAI, an artificial intelligence company that provides a chatbot and other services to his social media company, X, and also uses A.I. to power driver assistance systems at Tesla. He has also sued OpenAI, his chief competitor, claiming that the firm, which he co-founded, breached its founding contract by putting commercial interests ahead of the public good. Mr. Musk left OpenAI in 2018 after disputes with other co-founders. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to A.I. systems. The two companies have denied the suit's claims.) The leaders of the nation's largest A.I. companies -- among them Google, Meta, OpenAI and Amazon -- donated to and attended Mr. Trump's inauguration last month as they've sought to curry favor with a new administration shaping federal policy around the developing technology. Mr. Trump also appointed David Sacks, a venture capitalist, donor and ally to Mr. Musk, as the "White House A.I. and Crypto Czar," and rescinded the Biden administration's order to create A.I. safeguards. Last month, the president also announced a new $100 billion A.I. initiative between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to create computing infrastructure in the United States to power artificial intelligence. In his new government role, Mr. Musk has insisted that there is ample waste and fraud that has gone undetected, echoing claims he made when he cut costs at companies like Twitter. In a livestream audio conversation that began after midnight on Monday in Washington, Mr. Musk claimed that wasteful spending, including "fake people" collecting Social Security and Medicare payments as well as "foreign fraud rings," was taking $100 billion to $200 billion a year of U.S. taxpayer money. "A trillion dollars can be saved just by addressing waste, fraud and abuse," he said without saying how he arrived at that number. Aric Toler contributed reporting.

Former Tesla engineer heading government agency reportedly outlines 'AI-first strategy' | TechCrunch

Thomas Shedd, the former Tesla engineer now serving as the director of Technology Transformation Services, reportedly outlined an "AI-first strategy" for the U.S. government department. According to a report from Wired citing multiple sources, the Musk ally described the plan to run the office like a "startup software company" during a Monday meeting. The New York Times notes that the cost-cutting measure arrives as the department is said to be eyeing a 50% budget cut. The paper adds that Shedd is looking to build a centralized government contract database designed for AI analysis. Such a strategy sits comfortably at the intersection of smaller government and increased AI reliance advocated by the Silicon Valley investors and executives rising through the government ranks under the Trump administration. The TTS is a division of the General Services Administration that helps federal agencies improve their tech practices.

Inside Musk's Aggressive Incursion Into the Federal Government

In Elon Musk's first two weeks in government, his lieutenants gained access to closely held financial and data systems, casting aside career officials who warned that they were defying protocols. They moved swiftly to shutter specific programs -- and even an entire agency that had come into Mr. Musk's cross hairs. They bombarded federal employees with messages suggesting they were lazy and encouraging them to leave their jobs. Empowered by President Trump, Mr. Musk is waging a largely unchecked war against the federal bureaucracy -- one that has already had far-reaching consequences. Mr. Musk's aggressive incursions into at least half a dozen government agencies have challenged congressional authority and potentially breached civil service protections. Top officials at the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development who objected to the actions of his representatives were swiftly pushed aside. And Mr. Musk's efforts to shut down U.S.A.I.D., a key source of foreign assistance, have reverberated around the globe. Mr. Musk, the world's richest man, is sweeping through the federal government as a singular force, creating major upheaval as he looks to put an ideological stamp on the bureaucracy and rid the system of those who he and the president deride as "the deep state." The rapid moves by Mr. Musk, who has a multitude of financial interests before the government, have represented an extraordinary flexing of power by a private individual. The speed and scale have shocked civil servants, who have been frantically exchanging information on encrypted chats, trying to discern what is unfolding. Senior White House staff members have at times also found themselves in the dark, according to two officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions. One Trump official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Mr. Musk was widely seen as operating with a level of autonomy that almost no one can control. Mr. Musk, the leader of SpaceX, Tesla and X, is working with a frantic, around-the-clock energy familiar to the employees at his various companies, flanked by a cadre of young engineers, drawn in part from Silicon Valley. He has moved beds into the headquarters of the federal personnel office a few blocks from the White House, according to a person familiar with the situation, so he and his staff, working late into the night, could sleep there, reprising a tactic he has deployed at Twitter and Tesla. This time, however, he carries the authority of the president, who has bristled at some of Mr. Musk's ready-fire-aim impulses but has praised him publicly. "He's a big cost-cutter," Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday. "Sometimes we won't agree with it and we'll not go where he wants to go. But I think he's doing a great job. He's a smart guy." Mr. Musk, who leads a cost-cutting initiative the administration calls the Department of Government Efficiency, boasted on Saturday that his willingness to work weekends was a "superpower" that gave him an advantage over his adversary. The adversary he was referring to was the federal work force. "Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it's like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!" Mr. Musk posted on X. There is no precedent for a government official to have Mr. Musk's scale of conflicts of interest, which include domestic holdings and foreign connections such as business relationships in China. And there is no precedent for someone who is not a full-time employee to have such ability to reshape the federal work force. The historian Douglas Brinkley described Mr. Musk as a "lone ranger" with limitless running room. He noted that the billionaire was operating "beyond scrutiny," saying: "There is not one single entity holding Musk accountable. It's a harbinger of the destruction of our basic institutions." Several former and current senior government officials -- even those who like what he is doing -- expressed a sense of helplessness about how to handle Mr. Musk's level of unaccountability. At one point after another, Trump officials have generally relented rather than try to slow him down. Some hoped Congress would choose to reassert itself. Mr. Trump himself sounded a notably cautionary note on Monday, telling reporters: "Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval. And we'll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate, we won't." "If there's a conflict," he added, "then we won't let him get near it." However, the president has given Mr. Musk vast power over the bureaucracy that regulates his companies and awards them contracts. He is shaping not just policy but personnel decisions, including successfully pushing for Mr. Trump to pick Troy Meink as the Air Force secretary, according to three people with direct knowledge of his role. Mr. Meink previously ran the Pentagon's National Reconnaissance Office, which helped Mr. Musk secure a multibillion-dollar contract for SpaceX to help build and deploy a spy satellite network for the federal government. Since Mr. Trump's inauguration, Mr. Musk and his allies have taken over the United States Digital Service, now renamed United States DOGE Service, which was established in 2014 to fix the federal government's online services. They have commandeered the federal government's human resources department, the Office of Personnel Management. They have gained access to the Treasury's payment system -- a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending. Mr. Musk has also taken a keen interest in the federal government's real estate portfolio, managed by the General Services Administration, moving to terminate leases. Internally, G.S.A. leaders have started to discuss eliminating as much as 50 percent of the agency's budget, according to people familiar with the conversations. Perhaps most significant, Mr. Musk has sought to dismantle U.S.A.I.D., the government's lead agency for humanitarian aid and development assistance. Mr. Trump has already frozen foreign aid spending, but Mr. Musk has gone further. "We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper," Mr. Musk gloated on X at 1:54 a.m. Monday. "Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead." Mr. Musk's allies now aim to inject artificial intelligence tools into government systems, using them to assess contracts and recommend cuts. On Monday, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla engineer who has been tapped to lead a technology team at G.S.A., told some staff members that he hoped to put all federal contracts into a centralized system so they could be analyzed by artificial intelligence, three people familiar with the meeting said. Mr. Musk's actions have astounded and alarmed Democrats and government watchdog groups. They question if Mr. Musk is breaching federal laws that give Congress the final power to create or eliminate federal agencies and set their budgets, require public disclosure of government actions and prohibit individuals from taking actions that might benefit themselves personally. At least four lawsuits have been filed in federal court to challenge his authority and the moves by the new administration, but it remains to be seen if judicial review can keep up with Mr. Musk. The New York Times spoke to more than three dozen current and former administration officials, federal employees and people close to Mr. Musk who described his expanding influence over the federal government. Few were willing to speak on the record, for fear of retribution. "Before Congress and the courts can respond, Elon Musk will have rolled up the whole government," said one official who works inside an agency where representatives from Mr. Musk's cost-cutting initiative have asserted control. Mr. Musk says he is making long overdue reforms. So far, his team has claimed to help save the federal government more than $1 billion a day through efforts like the cancellation of federal building leases and contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion, although they have provided few specifics. Controlling the Pipes Workers in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which housed some operations for the United States Digital Service, arrived the day after Mr. Trump's inauguration to find a sticky note with "DOGE" on a door to a suite once used as a work space for senior technologists at the agency. It was one of the first signs that Mr. Musk's team had arrived. Inside, black backpacks were strewed about, and unfamiliar young men roamed the halls without the security badges that federal employees typically carried to enter their offices. The quick takeover was similar to the playbook Mr. Musk has used in the private sector, where he has been a ruthless cost cutter, subscribing to the philosophy that it is better to cut too deeply and fix any problems that arise later. He routinely pushes his employees to ignore regulations they consider "dumb." And he is known for taking extreme risks, pushing both Tesla and SpaceX to the brink of bankruptcy before rescuing them. In his current role, Mr. Musk has a direct line to Mr. Trump and operates with little if any accountability or oversight, according to people familiar with the dynamic. He often enters the White House through a side entrance, and drops into meetings. He has a close working relationship with Mr. Trump's top policy adviser, Stephen Miller, who shares Mr. Musk's contempt for much of the federal work force. At one point, Mr. Musk sought to sleep over in the White House residence. He sought and was granted an office in the West Wing but told people that it was too small. Since then, he has told friends he is reveling in the trappings of the opulent Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, where he has worked some days. His team is staffed heavily by engineers -- at least one as young as 19 -- who have worked at his companies like X or SpaceX, but have little if any experience in government policy and are seeking security clearances. Officially, Mr. Musk is serving as a special government employee, according to the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. This is a status typically given to part-time, outside advisers to the federal government who offer advice based on private sector expertise. The White House declined to say if Mr. Musk had been granted a waiver that allowed him to get involved in agencies whose actions could affect his own personal interests. And even if he had been given such a waiver, four former White House ethics lawyers said they could not envision how it could be structured to appropriately cover the range of the work Mr. Musk is overseeing. In a statement, Ms. Leavitt said that "Elon Musk is selflessly serving President Trump's administration as a special government employee, and he has abided by all applicable federal laws." Mr. Musk has told Trump administration officials that to fulfill their mission of radically reducing the size of the federal government, they need to gain access to the computers -- the systems that house the data and the details of government personnel, and the pipes that distribute money on behalf of the federal government. Mr. Musk has been thinking radically about ways to sharply reduce federal spending for the entire presidential transition. After canvassing budget experts, he eventually became fixated on a critical part of the country's infrastructure: the Treasury Department payment system that disburses trillions of dollars a year on behalf of the federal government. Mr. Musk has told administration officials that he thinks they could balance the budget if they eliminate the fraudulent payments leaving the system, according to an official who discussed the matter with him. It is unclear what he is basing that statement on. The federal deficit for 2024 was $1.8 trillion. The Government Accountability Office estimated in a report that the government made $236 billion in improper payments -- three-quarters of which were overpayments -- across 71 federal programs during the 2023 fiscal year. The push by Mr. Musk into the Treasury Department led to a months-in-the-making standoff last week when a top career official, David Lebryk, resisted giving representatives from the cost-cutting effort access to the federal payment system. Mr. Lebryk was threatened with administrative leave and then retired. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently approved access for the Musk team, as The Times previously reported. The Treasury Department's proprietary system for paying the nation's financial obligations is an operation traditionally run by a small group of career civil servants with deep technical expertise. The prospect of an intrusion into that system by outsiders such as Mr. Musk and his team has raised alarm among current and former Treasury officials that a mishap could lead to critical government obligations going unpaid, with consequences ranging from missed benefits payments to a federal default. Ms. Leavitt said the access they were granted so far was "read only," meaning the staff members could not alter payments. Democrats on Monday said they would introduce legislation to try to bar Mr. Musk's deputies from entering the Treasury system. "The Treasury secretary must revoke DOGE's access to the Treasury payment system at once," said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader. "If he does not, Congress must act immediately." Another key pipeline is the government's personnel database, run out of the Office of Personnel Management, where Mr. Musk has quickly asserted his influence. At least five people who have worked for Mr. Musk in some capacity now have key roles in the office, according to people familiar with their roles. Last week, the personnel agency sent an email to roughly two million federal workers offering them the option to resign but be paid through the end of September. The email's subject line, "Fork in the Road," was the same one that Mr. Musk used in an email he sent to Twitter employees offering them severance packages in late 2022. Since then, Mr. Musk has promoted the offer on social media and called it "very generous." Mr. Musk is also studying the workings of the G.S.A., which manages federal properties. During a visit to the agency last week, accompanied by his young son, whom Mr. Musk named "X Æ A-12," and a nanny, he spoke with the agency's new acting administrator, Stephen Ehikian. After the meeting, officials discussed a plan to eliminate 50 percent of expenditures, according to people familiar with the discussions. And Mr. Ehikian told staff members in a separate meeting that he wanted them to apply a technique called "zero based budgeting," an approach that Mr. Musk deployed during his Twitter takeover and at his other companies. The idea is to reduce spending of a program or contract to zero, and then argue to restore any necessary dollars. Inflicting Trauma Russell T. Vought, who served in Mr. Trump's first administration and is his choice again to lead the Office of Management and Budget, has spoken openly about the Trump team's plans for dismantling civil service. "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected," Mr. Vought said in a 2023 speech. "When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains." Mr. Musk, who pushed Mr. Vought for the budget office role, for which he is awaiting Senate confirmation, has echoed that rhetoric, portraying career civil servants and the agencies they work for as enemies. U.S.A.I.D., which oversees civilian foreign aid, is "evil," Mr. Musk wrote in numerous posts on Sunday, while "career Treasury officials are breaking the law every hour of every day," he said in another post. Mr. Musk used the same tactic during his 2022 takeover of Twitter, in which he depicted the company's previous management as malicious and many of its workers as inept and oppositional to his goals. In firing Twitter executives "for cause" and withholding their exit packages, Mr. Musk accused some of them of corruption and attacked them personally in public posts. The tactics by Mr. Musk and his team have kept civil servants unbalanced, fearful of speaking out and uncertain of their futures and their livelihoods. On Jan. 27, members of the team entered the headquarters and nearby annex of the aid agency in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, U.S. officials said. The team demanded and was granted access to the agency's financial and personnel systems, according to two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the activity and the agency's inner workings. During this period, an acting administrator at the agency put about 60 senior officials on paid leave and issued stop-work orders that led to the firing of hundreds of contractors with full-time employment and health benefits. By Saturday, the agency's website vanished. And when the two top security directors tried to stop members of the team from entering a secure area that day to get classified files, they were placed on administrative leave. Katie Miller, a member of the Musk initiative, said on X that "no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances." By Monday, U.S.A.I.D. was effectively paralyzed. In a live broadcast on his social media platform early Monday, Mr. Musk said the president agreed "that we should shut it down." A Culture of Secrecy Mr. Musk's team has prioritized secrecy, sharing little outside the roughly 40 people who, as of Inauguration Day, had been working for as part of the effort. The billionaire has reposted messages accusing people of trying to "dox," or publish private information about, his aides when their names have been made public, claiming it is a "crime" to do so. The opacity has added to the anxiety within the civil service. A number of the employees across the government said they had been interviewed by representatives of Mr. Musk who had declined to share their surnames. Mr. Musk's aides have declined to answer questions themselves, consistently describing the sessions as "one-way interviews." Some workers who sat for interviews were asked what projects they were working on and who should be fired from the agency, people familiar with the conversations said. "My impression was not one of support or genuine understanding but of suspicion, and questioning," one General Services Administration employee wrote in an internal Slack message to colleagues, describing the interview process. Some of the young workers on Mr. Musk's team share a similar uniform: blazers worn over T-shirts. At the G.S.A., some staff members began calling the team "the Bobs," a reference to management consultant characters from the dark comedy movie "Office Space" who are responsible for layoffs. Many of Mr. Musk's lieutenants are working on multiple projects at different agencies simultaneously, using different email addresses and showing up at different offices. One example is Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, who was among the workers given access to U.S.A.I.D. systems, according to people familiar with his role. He is also listed as an "executive engineer" in the office of the secretary of health and human services, and had an email account at the G.S.A., records show. Mr. Farritor did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Musk's aides, including Mr. Farritor, have requested access to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services systems that control contracts and the more than $1 trillion in payments that go out annually, according to a document seen by The Times. The team reports to a longtime Musk adviser, Steve Davis, who helped lead cost-cutting efforts at X and SpaceX, and has himself amassed extraordinary power across federal agencies. In private conversations, Mr. Musk has told friends that he considers the ultimate metric for his success to be the number of dollars saved per day, and he is sorting ideas based on that ranking. "The more I have gotten to know President Trump, the more I like him. Frankly, I love the guy," Mr. Musk said in a live audio conversation on X early Monday morning. "This is our shot. This is the best hand of cards we're ever going to have." Reporting was contributed by Erica L. Green, Alan Rappeport, Andrew Duehren, Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage, Edward Wong, Sarah Kliff and Karoun Demirjian.