tech
March 24, 2026
Emil Michael, now a senior Pentagon official, says he'll never forgive Uber investors who ousted him and Kalanick
When asked whether he was still "salty" about about being shown the door at Uber, alongside co-founder Travis Kalanick, Michael didn't equivocate. "I'll never forget that, nor forgive," he said.
TL;DR
- Emil Michael, a senior DoD technology official, remains bitter about his 2017 departure from Uber, which he attributes to investors seeking to protect short-term gains rather than investing in autonomous driving.
- Michael believes Uber investors, including Benchmark, forced him and Travis Kalanick out, hindering the company's potential in autonomous vehicle technology.
- Michael is currently involved in a standoff with AI company Anthropic over its role as a large language model vendor for the DoD.
- He argues that Anthropic's own policy preferences impose an unacceptable layer of restriction on top of existing laws and DoD policies.
- Michael voiced concerns that Chinese technology companies could distill Anthropic's models, potentially giving adversaries access to unrestricted capabilities while the DoD uses a restricted version.
- The dispute has led to legal action, with the DoD deeming Anthropic a "supply-chain risk" and filing a brief in court, while Anthropic disputes the government's claims.
- Travis Kalanick has continued to pursue autonomous vehicle technology, founding robotics company Atoms and investing in Pronto.
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