David Sacks’ Financial Conflicts Mean He Can No Longer Credibly Serve as White House AI Advisor. He Should Resign.

A damning investigation by the New York Times has found that top White House A.I. and Tech Advisor David Sacks has “positioned himself to personally benefit” from his official government role – which he has only been allowed to hold because of his designation by President Trump as a “Special Government Employee” exempted from key financial disclosure requirements and anti-corruption laws.

The Times investigation found that Sacks – despite claims that he had sold most of his A.I. assets – has retained at least 449 stakes in companies with ties to A.I. that could be aided directly or indirectly by his policies.
The Times investigation also found that Sacks has recommended A.I. policies that have sometimes run counter to national security recommendations and has dramatically raised the profile of his weekly podcast, “All-In,” through his government role, expanding its business and sharing profits in areas such as event tickets and liquor sales, with a new $1,200 “All-In”-branded tequila.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement in response:

“These revelations explain so much about why the Trump Administration’s A.I. policies have looked like a big juicy government giveaway to tech billionaires – because they’ve been written by one of them. Mr. Sacks should resign from his government role and Congress should step up and investigate whether he has improperly benefited himself.”

In April, a Public Citizen report titled “Isn’t That Special?” named Sacks as one of a dozen other high-level Trump Administration officials who, like Elon Musk, had been designated “Special Government Employees” but were likely to have disqualifying conflicts-of-interest that should prevent them from serving in those sensitive roles.

The author of that report, Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger, said: “The Trump Administration’s wild abuse of the Special Government Employee law has enabled people to enrich themselves from their government jobs at the expense of the American people. The SGE law should be either radically reformed or eliminated entirely so that it can never be abused like this again.”