Elon Musk, another big plan has been revealed!
Recently, Tesla CEO Musk and American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami revealed the work plan of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which includes laying off thousands of civil servants and relaxing all regulations. They also suggested changing the remote work principle and pushing for the cancellation of the work from home policy for federal employees, which would "trigger a popular wave of voluntary resignations".
According to TASS, Musk responded to a report in The New York Post on the 20th local time. The report revealed the "close relationship" between US President elect Trump and Musk, and claimed that the latter had an impact on Trump's decision on the new cabinet. Regarding the report, Musk responded that although he may provide opinions on some cabinet candidates, "decisions are 100% made by the president. TASS News Agency commented that this is Musk's denial that he directly influenced Trump's cabinet selection decision.
New news has also been released about xAI, an artificial intelligence startup under Musk. According to reports, the company raised $5 billion in its latest round of financing, with a valuation of $50 billion, more than double its valuation from a few months ago. In addition, Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI has escalated again, which may accelerate the industry reshuffle.
According to the latest news, Neuralink, a brain computer interface company under Musk, announced that it has received approval from Health Canada to launch its first clinical trial in the country and has begun public recruitment of participants. Neuralink believes that opening international trials marks an important step in developing brain computer interface technology, which has the potential to change the lives of patients with neurological disorders around the world.
Take a look at the detailed report!
Musk announces massive 'government layoffs plan'
On Wednesday local time, Musk and Ramaswami unveiled the work plan of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In a column article in The Wall Street Journal, the two explained how Trump, with the support of the conservative Supreme Court, would be able to cut civil servants and spending, and potentially bypass the budget wielding Congress. The article reads: "On November 5th, voters explicitly authorized Trump to bring about a complete change, and they have the right to do so. Our way of doing things is different, we are entrepreneurs, not politicians, and we will cut costs." The two say their mission will end on July 4, 2026.
The article states that DOGE will identify "thousands" of regulations for President elect Trump to repeal. They believe that these regulations will provide a reason for the government to "massively lay off employees". We will provide suggestions for every step of DOGE's reform to implement three major reforms: removing regulation, reducing administrative management, and saving costs. We will pay special attention to driving change through administrative actions based on existing legislation, rather than through new laws
Musk and Ramaswami pointed out that several recent Supreme Court rulings have targeted executive power, arguing that "a large number of existing federal regulations" exceed the agency's authority and may be cut. And they believe that a significant reduction in regulations should allow for "at least" proportional reduction of government workers. The significant reduction of federal regulations provides a reasonable logic for large-scale layoffs throughout the federal bureaucracy. Not only can fewer employees be used to enforce fewer regulations, but once the agency's power is appropriately limited, it will also enact fewer regulations
The two also suggested changing the principle of remote work, stating that it would "trigger a popular wave of voluntary resignations" or move federal agencies out of Washington, reducing their attractiveness. They wrote in the article: "Requesting federal employees to come to the office five days a week will lead to a wave of voluntary layoffs, and we welcome this. If federal employees do not want to appear, American taxpayers should not pay for their privilege of staying at home." The two said that the Department of Government Efficiency will help "determine the minimum number of employees required for an institution to perform its constitutional and legal functions.
Musk estimates that Republican presidents can quickly reduce spending by "$500 billion" by cutting subsidies to "progressive" organizations such as public broadcasting or the Planned Parenthood Federation.
According to Reuters, federal employees in the United States are seeking legal help to counter Musk and Ramaswami. At present, it is unclear whether the US Congress is willing to cooperate with the transfer of power to the executive branch. Even if the Republican Party completely controls Washington, the sharp reduction in spending and employment may face a series of practical and political challenges, and trigger a series of legal issues, especially the constitutional role of Congress in controlling fiscal power. Steve Lenkart, executive director of the National Federation of Federal Employees, said that DOGE would "oppose the authorization of Congress and the Constitution, and it would trigger this debate about who has the right to spend money on behalf of the American people".
On November 12th, US President elect Trump announced that Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Ramaswami would lead the government's Efficiency Department. Trump said that Musk and Ramaswami "will pave the way for my administration to eliminate bureaucracy, cut excess regulation, reduce wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies.
Some analysts believe that as an external committee, the Government Efficiency Department will only have advisory capabilities, which means it may face many obstacles from the executive branch and within Congress. However, Musk's close relationship with President elect Trump may have an impact.
Elon Musk played a key role in the Trump campaign's "explosion of gold coins". Since Trump's victory, the two have had close ties. On Tuesday of this week, Musk's SpaceX launched a massive Starship rocket into space from Texas, and Trump watched the launch from the company's rocket facility.
Musk increases lawsuit against OpenAI, may accelerate industry reshuffle
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on the 20th, sources familiar with the matter said that Musk's artificial intelligence startup, xAI, informed investors that the company raised $5 billion in its latest round of funding, valuing the company at $50 billion, more than double its valuation from a few months ago (xAI was valued at $24 billion when it raised $6 billion in the spring).
It is reported that Qatar Investment Authority, Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz are expected to participate in this round of financing. This round of financing brings xAI's total financing for this year to $11 billion.
It is worth noting that recently, Musk's lawsuit against the Open Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (OpenAI) in the United States has escalated once again. Musk has submitted a new indictment to the Northern District Court of California, which is 107 pages long, an increase of over 20 pages compared to the original indictment. On the basis of the lawsuit filed in August, more antitrust charges were added and Microsoft and California Attorney General Bonta were listed as defendants.
In the new indictment, Musk accuses OpenAI of attempting to monopolize the market for generative artificial intelligence. The new indictment states: "Microsoft and OpenAI are clearly not satisfied with their almost monopoly position in the generative artificial intelligence market, and are suppressing competitors like xAI by requiring investors to promise not to fund other companies." The new indictment also mentions a detail, "OpenAI plans to spend $1.5 billion to recruit 1500 employees. In Musk's view, OpenAI has invested heavily and offered high salaries in order to compete for talent, which also constitutes a monopoly.
In addition, Musk expressed concerns about OpenAI's use in the military industry, stating that the company has removed clauses prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence technology in military development and has begun collaborating with the US Department of Defense. Musk stated that OpenAI is promoting the military application of AI technology, which could pose significant risks.
OpenAI has refuted the lawsuit, stating that Musk's allegations are "baseless" and emphasizing that the company's various businesses comply with market norms. And OpenAI's partner, Microsoft, who was also sued this time, has not yet responded to this matter.
According to CCTV News, Li Yan, director of the Institute of Technology and Cybersecurity at the China Institute of Modern International Relations, said that Musk filed a legal lawsuit against OpenAI in August, but failed. In less than three months, he made a comeback and filed a new lawsuit. His core demands have not changed significantly, they are all about the positioning of OpenAI as a company. Should this company adhere to its original intention, prioritize safety as its primary goal, develop safe and responsible artificial intelligence, and ultimately benefit all mankind? This is a non-commercial path. Instead of joining forces with Microsoft and following the logic of commercialization, as is currently the case.
Li Yan pointed out that if you carefully read some of the detailed contents of this lawsuit, you will find that a lot of ink has been spent discussing the partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft. As Musk said, he believes that their strong alliance will inevitably monopolize the development of the AI industry. Industry insiders analyze that there may be deep-seated considerations of commercial interests and the overall pattern of the industry behind this. So in this sense, the direction of this lawsuit may have a significant impact on the future industry reshuffle.