White House's six bigwigs hold a roast session: Musk slams OpenAI as shameless, Jensen Huang complains about no internet on flights.

Beating AI News Flash, October 8 — Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, AMD's Lisa Su, and Dell founder Michael Dell attended Trump's National Medal of Science and Technology ceremony in Washington.

Colossus reporter Harry Lambert recorded a private backstage chat among these tech giants at the White House, and the content was quite fascinating:

Musk was the last to arrive and the only guest who did not go through security screening. He brought his mother and three children, and upon entering the room he looked around excitedly like a teenager. Present were the U.S. Secretary of Energy, the NASA administrator, and several of the world's top billionaires. Within a minute, Musk pulled out his phone and showed everyone footage of a flight test of the Tesla Roadster: "This was supposed to be top secret, but whatever."

Later, the six were temporarily placed by the Secret Service in another auditorium, separated from their families, assistants, and security personnel. Huang asked how AI could achieve its goals, and Musk replied with a smile: "By any means necessary." When Huang went to be interviewed by the White House film crew, the others began discussing computing power. Musk complained that OpenAI President Greg Brockman had been pestering him for compute at a dinner earlier. Brin immediately chimed in that Brockman had asked him too. The more Musk talked, the angrier he got: "Dude, you stole my charity! How can you be such a jerk and still have the nerve to come back and ask me for help? Come on!"

Brin also brought up Brockman's habit of keeping a diary: "How many adult men do you know who keep a diary? If it were me, I'd have burned it long ago." Brockman's private diaries written in the 2010s later became involved in the lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI.

When the conversation turned to memory chips, Musk marveled that Micron's gross margin in the most recent quarter was as high as about 87%, saying he had never seen such an exaggerated supply chain price shock. Nadella also felt that Micron had not put enough money into expanding production. Both took issue with the high profits memory makers were earning amid tight supply.

After Huang returned, the six formed a circle. The reporter observed that Huang usually took the lead in starting topics, while Musk most loved to interrupt, holding a small glass of Diet Coke with ice. Su initially stood quietly to the side, and Nadella proactively walked over to talk with her. Dell, tall and unhurried in speech, mostly just listened. Brin and Nadella frequently picked up on what Huang and Musk said.

When the topic turned to flying, Huang first complained that the private jet service provided by Berkshire Hathaway's NetJets was not suitable for international travel. Musk turned and teased Dell, guessing that he must own an entire fleet of private jets. Dell replied that he had only one: "You can only sit in one at a time anyway." He also praised Musk's Starlink, saying he often relied on it to hold video conferences on planes. Brin also said Starlink was very useful.

Jensen Huang himself hasn't bought a private jet. He recently flew on a Delta Air Lines flight, but the Wi-Fi on the plane wasn't working, so he could only sit quietly and read about 7,000 emails. He complained that what he couldn't stand most was having no internet—he couldn't get any work done. The reporter watching nearby found it hard to imagine the energetic Jensen Huang sitting quietly.

After hearing this, Musk said: "The best way to quarantine AI is to put it on a Delta flight—guaranteed it can't escape."