Roughly 10 months and several other a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in marketing campaign contributions after it began, the alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk is formally over.
As the 2 strongest males on Earth ripped off their shirts and savagely tore into one another Thursday, the residents of the world seemed on, transfixed by the spectacle. However whilst the 2 antagonists flung fireballs at one another on their respective social networks, and as oddsmakers gamed out the potential outcomes, an necessary query was missed: Who will exchange Musk as President Trump’s new tech BFF?
The query might sound untimely, even perhaps tangential, with all of the drama nonetheless unfolding. However given the president’s method to industrial and commerce coverage, and the stakes that hinge on being in his good graces, or in his canine home, it appears logical that one other savvy tech business billionaire will search to fill the seat that Musk simply vacated.
Right here’s a fast overview of the highest contenders and their respective strengths and weaknesses.
Sam Altman
The 40-year previous cofounder and CEO of OpenAI has loads to achieve by claiming the “First Buddy” title. His firm’s giant language fashions are pushing the boundaries of synthetic intelligence, difficult longstanding assumptions and insurance policies round safety, ethics, privateness, and labor—all areas the place authorities regulation might come into play. Altman can also be looking for to construct an enormous community of AI information facilities, and he stood alongside Trump earlier this yr to announce the so-called Stargate venture. In truth, in accordance with some media reviews, Trump’s help of the Stargate venture irked Musk, who has a rival AI service.
Mark Zuckerberg
It wasn’t way back that Trump mused in an interview about jailing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuck, whose varied social networking apps banned Trump after the January 6, 2020 storming of the Capitol, obtained the message and has been diligently at work since then making an attempt to befriend Trump. Meta donated $1 million to the Trump inauguration in January and Zuckerberg was front-and-center throughout the inauguration festivities. On a Meta earnings name in January, Zuck even praised Trump for main an administration that “prioritizes American know-how successful and that can defend our values and pursuits overseas.” Whereas Trump hasn’t repeated his threats of jailing the Meta CEO, the social networking firm is presently awaiting a verdict within the authorities’s antitrust lawsuit looking for to interrupt the corporate up.
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founding father of Amazon, is eager to fix fences with Trump, who he as soon as provided to blast into house on certainly one of his rockets. There’s no love misplaced between the 2. In his first time period, Trump commonly railed in regards to the Bezos-owned Washington Submit. This time period Bezos desires a reset, having visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and contributing to the inauguration. At stake for Bezos is Amazon’s sprawling enterprise, which encompasses every little thing from retail to cloud computing and grocery shops. One other potential motivation for Bezos to take Musk’s place: the house race. Bezos’ Blue Origin competes instantly with Musk’s SpaceX, and Amazon’s Challenge Kuiper web satellite tv for pc effort is a rival to Musk’s Starlink.
Tim Cook dinner
As soon as often called the Trump Whisperer for his ability at shielding Apple from Trump’s commerce insurance policies, Tim Cook dinner’s star has not appeared to shine as brightly within the White Home throughout Trump’s second time period. The president’s tariffs haven’t exempted Apple as they did within the first time period, and in Could Trump even took a direct shot at Apple, threatening to impose 25% tariffs on its merchandise if the corporate didn’t transfer its iPhone manufacturing out of China and India, and into the U.S. “I had a bit of downside with Tim Cook dinner,” Trump mentioned in Could, referring to abroad iPhone manufacturing. If Cook dinner (or “Tim Apple” as Trump as soon as referred to him) can efficiently step into the breach left by Musk, it will be a grasp transfer.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
