logo
Without Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says ex-staffer

Without Musk, DOGE likely to fizzle out, says ex-staffer

Elon Musk's DOGE initiative has saved an estimated US$175 billion so far, but the tallies have been riddled with errors. (EPA Images pic)
WASHINGTON : Without billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration, his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency project is likely to sputter out, a former DOGE staffer said in his first interview since leaving the team.
Tesla CEO Musk announced on Wednesday evening that he was ending his time as a special government employee but vowed that DOGE would continue without him. DOGE has overseen job cuts at nearly every federal agency as part of US President Donald Trump's attempts to shake up the federal bureaucracy.
However, software engineer Sahil Lavingia, who spent almost two months working for the group of pro-Musk technologists, said he expects DOGE to quickly 'fizzle out.'
'It'll just die a whimper,' Lavingia, who was fired from DOGE earlier this month, told Reuters. 'So much of the appeal and allure was Elon.' He said he expected DOGE staffers to 'just stop showing up to work. It's like kids joining a startup that will go out of business in four months.'
That would cap a remarkable undoing for DOGE, which Musk initially vowed would cut US$2 trillion in federal spending. Instead, DOGE estimates its efforts have saved around US$175 billion so far and the group's tallies have been riddled with errors.
Lavingia, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of creator platform Gumroad, said he was recruited by DOGE through a personal contact and joined the team in March.
While he said he was proud of certain achievements at the department of veterans affairs, including modernising the agency's internal artificial-intelligence chatbot, he said he was often at a loss about what work he was expected to do.
'I got dropped into the VA with an HP laptop. What are we supposed to do? What is the road map?' Lavingia said he asked, to no avail. 'I felt like I was being pranked.'
The White House, the VA and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
The White House has previously said that DOGE works at a fast pace to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and generate savings for American taxpayers.
Lavingia said Steve Davis, the president of Musk's tunneling enterprise the Boring Company, ran day-to-day operations while Turkish-born venture capitalist Baris Akis helped with DOGE recruitment and DOGE logistics. Davis and Akis did not respond to requests for comment sent via the White House.
When instructions did come through, they were usually communicated through phone calls or small chats on the encrypted Signal messaging app that would typically auto-delete in one day, Lavingia said.
Lavingia said instructions included moving faster to increase mass layoffs at the VA, the federal government's second-largest agency.
The only time he met Musk, Lavingia said, was at an all-hands meeting in March with what he estimated was between 40 and 60 fellow DOGE staffers.
Lavingia said he asked to open-source, or make freely available, some of his computer code, which Musk approved.
He then asked if they could livestream DOGE meetings to increase transparency.
'Elon said: 'That's a great idea. We'll do it next week.' He then caught himself and said: 'Maybe we pre-record it because of security risks.''
Lavingia said he never heard back.
In early May, after he spoke to media outlet Fast Company about working at DOGE, Lavingia said his computer access was revoked in what amounted to a firing. He said Musk and team leaders never explicitly told him he should not talk to journalists.
'My DOGE days were over,' Lavingia wrote in a blog about his experience.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tesla tops Chinese rivals in assisted driving tests
Tesla tops Chinese rivals in assisted driving tests

The Sun

time7 hours ago

  • The Sun

Tesla tops Chinese rivals in assisted driving tests

BEIJING: Billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla outperformed Chinese rivals including BYD, Xiaomi and Huawei in a test of assisted driving technologies on China's highways, according to results published by TikTok owner Bytedance's auto unit Dcar. State television CCTV and Dcar jointly tested the level 2 advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) from more than 20 electric vehicle brands in China and rated their performance in a series of scenarios with higher risks of accidents on highways and urban traffics. The test videos posted by Dcar went viral on Chinese social media. Tesla scored the best in the highway test among 36 models, with its Model 3 and Model X passing five out of six scenarios, while BYD's Denza Z9GT and Huawei-backed Aito M9 failed in three scenarios. Xiaomi's SU7 passed in one of six. In a Weibo post on Friday, HIMA, the Huawei-led auto alliance, said it declined to comment on the 'so-called test.' BYD and Xiaomi didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. 'Due to laws against data export, Tesla achieved the top results in China despite having no local training data,' Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on his X account on Friday. Tesla has been caught in what Musk described as a 'quandary', as the U.S. doesn't allow its AI software to be trained in China, while the automaker has been seeking approval from Chinese regulators to transfer data saved locally in Shanghai back to the United States for algorithm training. Domestic brands should face up to the gap with Tesla in autonomous driving, Wang Yao, deputy chief engineer of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told an auto forum in Shanghai earlier this month. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, in remarks after a Tesla Model Y delivered itself from an Austin, Texas factory to its owner in the area roughly 30 minutes away, said 'we will continue to learn' from Tesla which has led industry trends. The test came amid growing safety concerns in China about the ADAS after a highway accident involving a Xiaomi SU7 killed three people in March. State media have blamed misleading promotions for resulting drivers' improper uses of the technologies and the authorities have banned the uses of terms such as 'smart driving' and 'autonomous driving' for marketing driving assistance features. The public security ministry said this week that the country will set out legal responsibilities related to the technology that has yet achieved true autonomous driving. Drivers face safety and legal risks if they are distracted in accidents when assisted driving is turned on, the ministry warned. Xiaomi had seen a slump in new EV orders as a consumer backlash began in April following the fatal trash, but the impact seems short-lived, with its new electric SUV receiving exceptionally strong initially orders after it went on sale last month. Tesla's sales of its China-made electric vehicles edged up 0.8% in June from a year earlier, snapping an eight-month losing streak, but they continued to fall on a quarterly basis in the face of lower-cost new models from its Chinese rivals. Tesla's assisted driving suite is available in China for nearly $9,000, while the technology from its local rivals including Xiaomi and BYD is without extra cost, pressuring the U.S. automaker's self-driving future. Tesla's technology approach relies solely on cameras as sensors and artificial intelligence while most Chinese peers including BYD use lidar (light detection and range sensors) additionally to ensure performance. ($1 = 7.1624 Chinese yuan renminbi) - Reuters

US stock futures largely steady after record run for S&P 500, Nasdaq
US stock futures largely steady after record run for S&P 500, Nasdaq

New Straits Times

time9 hours ago

  • New Straits Times

US stock futures largely steady after record run for S&P 500, Nasdaq

NEW YORK: Wall Street futures were largely unchanged on Friday, as investors caught their breath after record closes for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq and looked for clarity on US trade talks before the August 1 tariff deadline. At 6.50am ET, Dow E-minis were up 68 points, or 0.15 per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.13 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.04 per cent. The blue-chip Dow fell 0.7 per cent in Thursday's session, but remained close to its all-time high, last hit in December. All three major indexes were poised to cap the week on a high note, as fresh signs of progress emerged on deals between the United States and its trading partners including Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, which helped propel markets to new highs. Hopes for an agreement with the European Union were building, while negotiations with South Korea gathered steam ahead of the fast-approaching August 1 deadline. Investors are hoping for a resolution by that date which could sidestep hefty US import tariffs. The markets' record run was also aided by a wave of upbeat second-quarter earnings. Of the 152 companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings as of Thursday, 80.3 per cent reported above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG. However, there were a few setbacks this week. Heavyweights Tesla and General Motors stumbled and were on track for their steepest weekly declines in nearly two months. Tesla's slide followed CEO Elon Musk's warning of tougher quarters ahead as US EV subsidies dwindle, while General Motors took a hit after absorbing a US$1.1 billion blow from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs in its second quarter earnings. Intel dropped 7.8 per cent in premarket trading on Friday after the chipmaker forecast steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street had estimated and announced plans to slash jobs. "Tariff headlines are driving market risk sentiment fuelling a risk-on mood this week. However, some volatility near the August 1st deadline remains possible," a group of analysts led by Adam Kurpiel at Societe Generale said. All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve next week when policymakers gather for a closely watched meeting. Wall Street is betting they will hit the pause button again on interest rates while sizing up tariff-fueled inflation. But the central bank isn't just facing economic headwinds — politics is also increasingly in the mix as Trump continues to ramp up his pressure campaign for lower rates after a rare visit to the Fed's headquarters on Thursday. A frequent critic of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Trump has openly floated the idea of replacing him with someone more dovish — a stance that analysts noted is nudging investors to start pricing in looser monetary policy. According to CME's FedWatch tool, traders now see a nearly 60 per cent chance of a rate cut as soon as September. Among other stocks, Newmont added 2.1 per cent after the gold miner surpassed Wall Street expectations for second-quarter profit. Health insurer Centene posted a surprise quarterly loss, sending its shares tumbling 10 per cent. Paramount Global rose 1.3 per cent after US regulators approved its US$8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.

Trump says he wants Musk's companies to thrive
Trump says he wants Musk's companies to thrive

The Sun

time10 hours ago

  • The Sun

Trump says he wants Musk's companies to thrive

TORONTO: President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not destroy Elon Musk's companies by taking away federal subsidies and that he wants the billionaire tech entrepreneur's businesses to thrive. The remarks follow a public clash with his former close ally over his tax bill. In July, the space and automotive billionaire announced the formation of a new political party, saying Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill would bankrupt America. 'Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the US government. This is not so!' Trump said in a social media post. 'I want Elon, and all businesses within our country, to THRIVE.' In a post on X, Musk said the 'subsidies' Trump was talking about simply do not exist. SpaceX won the Nasa contracts by doing a better job for less money, he added. 'Moving those contracts to other aerospace companies would leave astronauts stranded and taxpayers on the hook for twice as much!' The president's social media post came on the heels of Musk's warning to Tesla investors on Wednesday that US government cuts in support for electric vehicle makers could lead to a 'few rough quarters' for the company. Though Musk has often said government subsidies should be eliminated, Tesla has historically benefited from billions of dollars in tax credits and other policy benefits because of its business in clean transportation and renewable energy. Sweeping tax and budget legislation approved by Congress, and signed by Trump, will halt US$7,500 (RM31,610) tax credits for buying or leasing new electric vehicles on Sept 30, as well as a US$4,000 used EV credit, that have helped spur their sales in recent years. Before the relationship soured, Musk had spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win November's presidential election and led the Department of Government Efficiency's chaotic effort to slash the budget and cut the federal workforce. The Tesla CEO left the administration in late May to refocus on his tech empire. Trump and Musk fell out shortly afterward when Musk openly denounced the Republican president's tax-cut and spending bill, leading to threats by Trump to cancel billions of dollars worth of federal government contracts with Musk's companies. A week after the June spat, Reuters reported the White House had directed the Defense Department and Nasa to gather details on billions of dollars in SpaceX contracts to ready possible retaliation against the businessman and his companies. Musk's SpaceX had been considered a frontrunner to build out Trump's US$175 billion Golden Dome missile defence shield and remains a natural choice for key elements of the project. But sources familiar with the matter told Reuters this week that the administration is expanding its search for partners to build Golden Dome as tension with Musk threatens SpaceX's dominance in the program.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store