Elon Musk to use AI to determine the fate of 2.3 million US workers
US officials have identified the hacker who played AI video of Donald Trump kissing Elon Musk’s feet, as 21 DOGE staffers have resigned in protest of Musk’s trillion dollar cuts.
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Investigators have identified the hacker who broadcast an AI-powered video of President Trump kissing the feet of Elon Musk on public TVs at United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday and are threatening to take legal action against them.
Officials said the individual has been identified, although they didn’t name them or reveal how the hacker managed to infiltrate the government television system in the cafeteria at the agency’s headquarters.
“Yesterday, an individual was escorted off the property,” a HUD representative told the New York Post. “Legal ramifications are being explored. Additionally, termination or suspension of certain services are being explored as it relates to the department.”
Workers at HUD were caught off guard when the rogue video was broadcast at department headquarters with the message: “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING.”
Footage of the video was first shared on social media by Vox reporter Rachel Cohen, who acquired it from a source.
HUD has been a top target for Musk’s DOGE, which claimed earlier this month to have recovered US$1.9 billion from the department, which it alleged was “misplaced during the Biden administration.”
Meanwhile, protests against the DOGE staff cuts are occurring in the capital, and nearly two dozen federal techies working on the Department of Government Efficiency’s spending cuts have resigned, accusing Elon Musk of trying to “dismantle critical public services.”
The 21 staffers, who were engineers, data scientists and product managers at US Digital Service, said in a resignation letter obtained by The Associated Press that they felt they could no longer in good conscience carry out some of DOGE’s objectives.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” the staffers said. “We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”
The workers who quit constituted roughly a third of the 65 staff members who had been at the agency, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget and also helps with IT issues in the Executive Office of the President.
It comes as the fate of 2.3 million US government workers is now in the hands of artificial intelligence, with US media reporting Musk will use AI to assess those on the chopping block.
“Responses to the Elon Musk-directed email to government employees about what work they had accomplished in the last week are expected to be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether those jobs are necessary,” NBC News claimed, citing sources.
“The information will go into an LLM (Large Language Model), an advanced AI system that looks at huge amounts of text data to understand, generate and process human language, the sources said. The AI system will determine whether someone’s work is mission-critical or not,” the report added.
Meanwhile, Musk took to X to defend his move, posting: “On one hand, @DOGE computer nerds review government data to eliminate waste & fraud. On the other hand, demented creeps at intelligence agencies spy on you at will. Which is of greater concern?”
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was established by President Trump “to examine how to streamline the Federal Government, eliminate unnecessary programs, and reduce bureaucratic inefficiency,” according to the White House website.
Meanwhile, a data scientist with ties to Musk claimed that “over $100 billion” in taxpayer money is being wasted or stolen by federal employees at government agencies.
With the identity of “DataRepublican” on X, the woman told NewsNation she believes a huge amount of money is being wasted or stolen based on her examination of public databases.
“If I had to guess, I would say it is over $100 billion,” she said. “But what is more important is what they are doing with that money.”
“[I]f you research people long enough, you start to notice that they’re all working together, they’re all married, that they’re all in-laws,” she said of her latest findings. “DataRepublican” insisted that the evidence of corruption she has uncovered isn’t limited to members of just one political party, the New York Post reports.
It comes as nearly 40 per cent of the federal contracts that Mr Trump’s administration claims to have canceled as part of its cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the Associated Press reports.
DOGE published an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks with data showing that more than one-third of the contract cancellations are expected to yield no savings.
Either the government is legally required to spend the funds or has already done so.
“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” Charles Tiefer, an expert on government contracting law told AP. It “doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money,” he said.
TV HOST CUTS HAND OPEN RAGING AGAINST DOGE CUTS
Jon Stewart took his cutting criticism on The Daily Show a little too far, slicing open his hand while smashing a mug in anger.
The comedian started his show Monday by pretending to be a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee, bringing out a calculator and a mug reading “World’s Most Dad,” a clear dig at DOGE boss Elon Musk and his ever-growing offspring.
Jon Stewart injured his hand on The Daily Show Monday night after smashing a mug on his desk. #DOGE#thedailyshowpic.twitter.com/5bQV1mMnYP
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) February 25, 2025
Stewart then said the cost-cutting department’s focus should be the billions in subsidies given to corporations, particularly pharmaceutical companies.
But the TV host’s anger escalated as he mentioned former US president Joe Biden who once boasted about negotiating to cut the prices of just 10 medications.
Stewart then smashed the mug and said, “I’ll be going to the hospital soon,” he joked, hiding his bleeding hand under his desk. He later tweeted that the new show was “bloody good”.
FAKE AI VIDEO OF TRUMP KISSING MUSK’S FEET
Hackers have played doctored images of US President Donald Trump kissing the feet of Elon Musk on video screens throughout a federal US department.
Screens in the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (DUD) were reportedly hacked into to display the AI-generated images with the text “Long live the real king”.
Sources at HUD who shared photos and videos to US media agencies said screens had displayed a looping video – possibly AI-generated – of Mr Trump kissing Musk’s toes.
Musk also has two left feet in the image.
The apparent hacking comes after federal workers were sent an email on Saturday (US local time) demanding that they list their work achievements over the past week.
The emails were sent by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to federal workers on Saturday (US local time), shortly after Musk wrote in a post on X that “all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
While Mr Musk’s post mentioned “resignation”, the OPM email did not: “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments. Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pm EST.”
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
Mr Trump immediately backed Mr Musk’s email.
“I thought it was great,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, where he was meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’. We have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government so by asking the question ‘tell us what you did this week,’ what he’s doing is saying are you actually working.
“And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired.”
Mr Trump also claimed, without evidence, that “a lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist.”
“There was a lot of genius in sending it,” Mr Trump said. “If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working.”
Agencies including the Departments of Defence , State, Homeland Security, Commerce and Energy as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI instructed staff to disregard the email.
But this was before Mr Musk posted on X early Monday (local time): “Those who do not take this email seriously will soon be furthering their career elsewhere.”
Responses to Mr Musk’s email are expected to be fed into an artificial intelligence system to determine whether those jobs are necessary or can be terminated.
Sources have told US media this is why the email requested no links or attachments that may contain sensitive information.
The White House has declined to comment and the OPM has not yet responded to media wanting to know whether or not humans will be involved in reviewing the responses.
Federal unions, businesses, veterans and conservation organisations responded by filing an updated lawsuit against Musk, 53, accusing him of having violated the law with the mass firing threat.
A group of unions representing current and former federal workers sued the Trump administration to block the sharing of sensitive personal data with DOGE.
It resulted in a federal Biden-appointed judge issuing a temporary restraining order Monday on both agencies.
US district judge Deborah L Boardman wrote that the suit showed that the Education Department and OPM “likely violated the Privacy Act by disclosing their personal information to DOGE affiliates without their consent.”
The judge’s opinion noted that DOGE employees are embedded both at the Department of Education and OPM and said the DOGE personnel who have been granted unauthorised access to the plaintiffs’ records “could use the information available to them to create a comprehensive picture of the plaintiffs’ familial, professional, or financial affairs.”
The order blocking the Education Department and OPM from sharing the plaintiffs’ personal data with DOGE expires on March 10.
Musk, 53, has been tasked by Mr Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in slashing federal spending.
At least 65,000 federal employees have already left their posts in response to a separate buyout offer initiated by DOGE, as Musk and his team attempt to overhaul and shrink the federal government.
More than 20,000 have also been fired or otherwise put on a track to be laid off at agencies.
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