U.S. Pentagon AI deputy who led Anthropic exclusion sells Perplexity and xAI stakes

Emil Michael, the U.S. Defense Department’s deputy undersecretary for research and engineering and chief technology officer, sold a stake in AI search startup Perplexity in June for $5 million to $25 million, according to reports citing disclosures. The sales followed earlier disposals of xAI and Brex stakes. The timing has drawn scrutiny because Michael played a key public role in the Pentagon process targeting Anthropic, while Perplexity and xAI compete for U.S. government AI contracts.