FILE: Long before the release of ChatGPT, Elon Musk and then-Y Combinator President Sam Altman spoke during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Oct. 6, 2015, in San Francisco.

For an increasingly large swath of technology and politics, Elon Musk is the uber-powerful elephant in the room. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is a rare person with the tech-industry clout to speak on Musk’s antics — and thwart his aims. But in a new interview with Bloomberg, the San Francisco executive instead opted for the verbal equivalent of a shrug about Musk’s political ascension.

The wide-ranging conversation, between Altman and longtime journalist Josh Tyrangiel, was published by Bloomberg’s Businessweek on Sunday. Altman appeared earnest, delivering long and thoughtful answers to questions about OpenAI’s release of

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