Key facts
- Emil Michael, a top Pentagon official for military AI policy, sold stock in AI company Perplexity.
- The sale of Perplexity shares was valued between $5 million and $25 million.
- Michael had previously sold shares in Elon Musk's AI company xAI, realizing profits up to $24 million.
- He also sold holdings in financial software company Brex LLC for at least $5 million.
- Ethics expert Richard Painter questioned Michael's ownership in AI companies while in government service.
The top Pentagon official responsible for military artificial intelligence policy, Emil Michael, has sold millions of dollars worth of stock in an AI company, according to financial disclosures. Michael previously profited significantly from selling his investment in Elon Musk's AI company, xAI, earlier this year.
His latest disclosures reveal that in June, he sold his shares in Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, for a value between $5 million and $25 million. The exact profit from this sale is not clear due to the broad range reported in the disclosures. Records also show Michael received a personal loan from Perplexity between $250,000 and $500,000 a year prior to joining federal service, at an interest rate of 4.57%. He had also been on Perplexity's advisory board but stepped down upon entering government.
Ethics expert Richard Painter, a former White House lawyer, stated that Michael should have divested all interests in such companies before beginning his government role, emphasizing that while not illegal, such ownership raises questions of appearance. A Pentagon spokesperson asserted that Michael and other defense officials are in full compliance with ethics laws and regulations, highlighting the department's rigorous ethics framework.
Michael's financial activities extend beyond AI firms. His disclosures also indicate he sold holdings in Brex LLC, a financial software company backed by Peter Thiel, for at least $5 million in April. His stake in Brex, which was acquired by Capitol One that month, saw its reported value jump from a maximum of $750,000 in March 2025 to potentially yielding profits as high as $24 million or as low as $4.25 million. Brex does not appear to have reported work with the U.S. government, unlike xAI.
Michael was notably the public face of the Pentagon's engagement with AI company Anthropic. He previously served as chief business officer at Uber from 2014 to 2017.