ELON MUSK IS boosting a post on X promoting The New Yorker’s extensive investigation into Sam Altman’s allegedly deceptive behavior, WIRED has confirmed. The move comes just as Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman heads to a jury trial in a federal courtroom on Monday morning.
People scrolling X on Monday reported seeing an April 6 post from Ronan Farrow, a coauthor on the New Yorker article, promoting the investigation. A pop-up on the post on X’s mobile app says it was boosted by @elonmusk, who also owns the platform. Boosting is a feature that allows X subscribers to pay an additional fee to amplify posts. WIRED was able to independently verify the pop-up window.
Musk also reposted Farrow’s story on Monday from his account. “Calling him “Scam” Altman is accurate,” he wrote on X, referring to a line in the article about his nickname for the leader of OpenAI. “This is very much worth reading.”
X and OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED. The New Yorker declined to comment. (WIRED and the New Yorker are both owned by Condé Nast.)
The boosted Farrow post didn’t come with an “ad” label in people’s feeds on Monday, but users who clicked on a post options menu were shown choices such as “report ad.” On an FAQ page for X’s Boost feature, the company says that “boosted posts must also self-identify as an advertisement and comply with X’s ad policies.”
