A group of people closely associated with billionaire Elon Musk have taken senior positions in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency responsible for federal personnel policy, which has raised concerns among political experts and civil servants.
According to Wired, government sources talk about the rapid penetration of Musk's associates into the highest levels of OPM. One official compared this development to "Stalinist tactics." This has raised fears that the new leadership may rebuild the system of protecting civil servants and use artificial intelligence to downsize the government apparatus on a large scale under President Donald Trump's administration.
Among Musk's people who have been promoted to high positions at OPM: Chief of Staff Amanda Scales, who worked at artificial intelligence company xAI, Senior Advisor Riccardo Biasini, who previously ran Tesla's experimental underground tunnel network, the Vegas Loop, in Las Vegas, and a pair of very young software engineers, one who worked at Musk's brain implant company Neuralink and the other at Palantir, a data analytics firm run by longtime Musk associate Peter Thiel.
President Trump has nominated Scott Kupor, managing partner of the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital fund, to be the official head of OPM, although Musk's associates have already taken key positions in the agency.
Public administration experts warn that the Trump administration may use AI to automate mass layoffs in the federal sector.
"There is a serious concern that technology could be used to massively analyze job descriptions and identify those who are eligible for reclassification under the Schedule F program," said Don Moynihan, a professor of politics at the University of Michigan.
Програма Schedule F, запропонована ще під час першої каденції Trump's plan included the elimination of job security for tens of thousands of government employees, which would make it easier to fire them. Many believe that Musk's influence on OPM indicates an attempt to implement this plan on an even larger scale.
Although Elon Musk has no official government position, he heads the President's "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), which develops proposals to cut federal programs. Musk reportedly tried to get an office in the West Wing of the White House, but Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, blocked the initiative.
Given that people associated with Musk have gained influential positions in one of the most important government agencies, the coming months could be a turning point in the reform of federal government, which could lead to massive layoffs of civil servants, changes in employment policies, and an increased role for AI in government agencies.