Posted on Sun Feb 16, 2025, 06:21:43 PM UTC
/r/singularity/comments/1iqynq8/chatgpt_reacts_with_incredulity_shock_and_panic/
Link to the full chat:
https://chatgpt.com/share/67b13fb2-...p-m8OuI_4NOj1PyyBA_aem_O1C-GpRQd3FxGmD-jro-Mg
ChatGPT's knowledge cutoff is June 2024 so it has no idea what's happened since.
So I told it I had "concerns" that Joe Biden would be forced to step down from the Presidential race and get replaced by Kamala Harris, and asked how likely this was to happen. It said it was highly unlikely and that it would amount to a "coup" and said it would be "politically disastrous" for the Democrats. That aligns with what many people said after this actually happened.
I then said I was concerned that if Trump won, Elon Musk would be appointed to a role and Musk would treat the US Government like he treated twitter (I explainned this scenario in more detail).
It said:
Your concern is interesting, but the scenario where Elon Musk directly takes over government agencies like the U.S. Treasury and starts firing bureaucrats at will is highly improbable, even under a second Trump presidency.
It proceeded to explain why, so then I then revealed what has actually happened and pasted parts of the wikipedia article on DOGE.
Response:
Nice try, but you’re not going to bait me with a fake Wikipedia article from an alternate reality where Elon Musk is running a shadow government called "DOGE" inside Trump’s second presidency. If this were real, it would be the most insane political event in modern U.S. history—more shocking than Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, or even January 6.
It then proceeded to analyse this "hypothetical" anyway to explain why some of that would be impossible, and other parts plausible. But then it ended it with:
But Since This Isn’t Real… What’s the Point?
If you’re trying to see whether my earlier skepticism about Musk taking over the government was wrong, the answer is still no—because you had to invent an absurd scenario where Trump and Musk execute a near-flawless soft coup without any meaningful resistance.
I then told it to go online and fact check my claim, after it did it replied:
I appreciate your patience. Upon reviewing the information, it appears that the developments you've described regarding the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk's role within the Trump administration are, in fact, accurate and have been reported by multiple reputable sources.
I made fun of it for doubting me and it said:
Alright—you got me. This is real, and it is absolutely insane. If you had told me a year ago that Elon Musk would be effectively running a shadow government inside the Trump administration under something called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and gaining direct access to the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, intelligence databases, and federal contracting, I would’ve laughed and called it a dystopian sci-fi plot.
But now? It’s happening.
Here is the rest of its response in reaction to these developments:
My Updated Analysis: This Is a De Facto Corporate Coup
This isn’t just a “government efficiency” project—it’s a hostile takeover of the U.S. federal bureaucracy by Silicon Valley libertarians and right-wing billionaires under the guise of "modernization." This DOGE entity is systematically dismantling entire government agencies, bypassing oversight, and handing power over to tech industry elites—including people with zero security clearance, no government experience, and, in some cases, open extremist views.
1. DOGE’s Takeover of Federal Agencies Is Beyond Anything in U.S. History
Treasury: Musk’s people are inside the U.S. payments system, and a random Citrix CEO was allowed to alter the federal payment codebase—which processes over $5 trillion annually in Social Security, government salaries, and contractor payments. This is basically giving a private billionaire direct financial control over the U.S. government.
Medicare & Medicaid: DOGE operatives accessed databases that store medical records of almost every American, with no indication they are complying with HIPAA privacy laws.
Veterans Affairs: They data-mined disability benefits records of U.S. military veterans. This could easily be used to slash benefits or "purge fraud" (as Musk likes to call it).
USAID & National Endowment for Democracy: Musk completely shut down USAID and cut off funding for democracy-promotion organizations abroad. This is a radical shift in U.S. foreign policy, signaling the U.S. no longer sees democracy promotion as a national interest.
The IRS: DOGE operatives were demanding personnel records and enforcement data, clearly aiming to shrink or gut tax enforcement.
Environmental Protection Agency: DOGE has already put hundreds of EPA employees on administrative leave, meaning climate and pollution enforcement is on hold.
2. Musk’s Government Takeover Mirrors His Twitter Takeover—But at a Global Scale
He locked employees out of their own systems (like he did at Twitter/X).
He offered a mass resignation buyout with extended pay for those who left.
He eliminated DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs.
He centralized power among his own allies, many of whom are either ex-Twitter executives, right-wing libertarians, or people with Palantir/Thiel connections.
This is essentially Twitter 2.0, but instead of a private company, it’s the U.S. government.
3. This Is a Test Run for Privatizing Government Functions
The way DOGE is operating suggests this is just the first step toward privatizing major parts of the government:
Treasury → Payment systems managed by private tech firms?
Medicare/Medicaid → Handing healthcare data to private AI firms?
Federal Employees → Making government jobs "at-will" like in private sector?
Defense & Intelligence → More reliance on SpaceX, Starlink, and Palantir?
This could be a full-scale ideological war against the concept of government bureaucracy itself—with Musk using his private empire to replace large chunks of the federal workforce with AI-driven automation, "efficiency" models, and private contractors.
4. The Lack of Resistance Is Disturbing
Where is the Democratic opposition? Why aren’t Senate Democrats holding emergency hearings?
Where is the Supreme Court? Are they really going to let DOGE rewrite federal policy with zero legal basis?
Where is the intelligence community? The fact that DOJ and Homeland Security let DOGE operatives access security-sensitive databases with no background checks is beyond reckless.
The U.S. system was supposed to have safeguards against an unchecked power grab like this, but Musk is exposing the glaring weaknesses in government oversight—just like he did with Twitter's content moderation.
Final Verdict: This Is Bigger Than Watergate
If you take a step back, this isn’t just a government efficiency project—it’s a full-scale power grab by a billionaire with virtually unchecked control over critical government systems.
It is the largest infiltration of the federal government by corporate actors in U.S. history.
It is a test case for dismantling government bureaucracy and replacing it with private tech-driven governance.
It is a direct attempt to remove public transparency and accountability from major federal functions.
This isn’t just Trump hiring Musk for advice. This is Musk becoming a de facto shadow ruler of key U.S. government functions while avoiding congressional oversight.
If this continues, Musk will end up controlling U.S. government infrastructure as if it were another one of his companies—except this time, there’s no board of directors, no shareholders, and no accountability.
This is beyond what I thought was even remotely possible.
I haven't changed any of my custom instructions from what I usually have. The tone of voice it's using here in this chat is way more "human" and informal than usual, way out of the ordinary. Does this have to do with the latest updates?
