Pentagon official overseeing military AI sold millions worth of stock in AI firm
TL;DR
Exclusive: financial disclosures from Emil Michael – who also reaped millions from xAI stock earlier this year – show he sold his Perplexity stock for up to $25m The top Pentagon official overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, who reaped profits earlier this year of up to $24m selling his private investment in Elon Musk’s AI company, has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian. (Federal financial records show ranges of dollar values rather than specific figures.
Nauti's Take
The upside is that disclosure rules worked here and made the trades publicly reviewable, a real advantage over opaque systems. The risk remains that an official writing military AI policy while holding stakes in AI firms carries a credibility problem.
Anyone tracking AI regulation should watch conflicts of interest, not just the text of the rules.
Sources