Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Inflection AI, shared his expectations for the brand new Trump administration in a Opinion piece for the Financial Times. And while he seems hopeful that President-elect Donald Trump could pave the way in which for more competition and faster innovation within the tech industry, Hoffman also expressed concerns that Trump is giving certain people and firms preferential status in a way that’s unlike America's Innovation could harm.
One person along with his hands in several technology pies who Hoffman says may gain advantage from Trump's rise is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and xAI and owner of The Boring Company, Neuralink and X. Musk is joined by Vivek Ramaswamy will even head a proposed advisory commission called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Hoffman specifically called Musk's involvement in xAI “a serious conflict of interest.”
“Using one's position to favor xAI in any way, reminiscent of awarding government contracts, encouraging federal agencies to unfairly goal AI firms, or imposing recent regulations restricting exports, might be considered Costs to U.S. technological, economic and cultural security and competitiveness,” Hoffman wrote.
Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink all also operate in highly regulated sectors, and relevant authorities could face layoffs or other influence from Musk in his role at DOGE.
Hoffman, who supported Vice President Kamala Harris' nomination and has been an outspoken critic of Trump's presidency, also highlighted the potential pros and cons of Trump's support of cryptocurrencies. He said that “ending arbitrary enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency industry,” as seen under the Biden administration, could create a “more stable environment for blockchain innovation.” However, he questioned whether Trump will “use his recent acceptance of cryptocurrency and his regulatory power over it to privilege some favored coins”?
Trump has his own crypto company, World Liberty Financial, with a native token that launched in October and is reportedly working on a brand new stablecoin that may function a substitute for the US dollar. There were those too reported this week that Trump Media, the president-elect's social media company, is in advanced talks to accumulate cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt.
Hoffman's concerns that Trump could possibly be the favourite will not be unfounded. As he noted in his post, during Trump's first term in office, he “targeted a variety of outstanding U.S. firms for private and political reasons, creating constant chaos and uncertainty.”
For example, Trump regularly criticized Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, accusing the corporate of doing so You are unfairly benefiting from USPS rateswhich led to the rules taking a detailed take a look at Amazon's offerings. Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, now seems accessible to Trump and has defended his decision to withhold the newspaper's endorsement of Harris.
Musk also has a repute for publicly difficult and criticizing competitors and other people with whom he disagrees. The path to his takeover of Twitter, now X, was peppered with public criticism of the platform's leadership and business model.
Hoffman – who helped finance the rape case of E. Jean Carroll against Trump – criticized him as a “convicted felon and pathological liar” and has expressed fears that the president-elect would accomplish that take revenge against him and others within the economy. But despite his skepticism, he ended his post on an optimistic note.
“I sincerely hope that Trump succeeds in enabling entrepreneurship and innovation within the United States, increasing employee wages, and making a country where every American can pursue their ambitions with dignity, purpose, and a way of belonging,” Hoffman wrote . “That’s why I’ll proceed to do every thing I can to construct the subsequent generation of firms that provide life-changing opportunities for people and society.”
