A financial disclosure from the White House has revealed that Katie Miller, a former aide in Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and now a conservative podcaster, owns between $500,000 and $1 million in stock in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company.
The disclosure, filed by her husband, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has drawn scrutiny because Katie Miller has spent months publicly criticizing AI companies that compete with xAI—including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google—while praising Musk’s Grok chatbot.
The situation raises questions about the intersection of financial interests, political influence, and the rapidly evolving AI industry, though no official finding of wrongdoing has been made.
Katie Miller, 34, is a conservative political adviser and podcaster with extensive experience in Republican politics and government communications.
She served as press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence from 2019 to 2020 and later as communications director to the vice president from 2020 to 2021. More recently, she worked as a top adviser and spokesperson for DOGE, the controversial government efficiency initiative led by Elon Musk during the Trump administration.
When Musk departed his role at DOGE in May 2025, Katie Miller followed him into the private sector, briefly working with his companies before launching her own podcast, “The Katie Miller Podcast,” in August 2025. She is married to Stephen Miller, a senior White House adviser known for his hardline immigration policies.
According to the White House financial disclosure detailing the finances of her husband, Katie Miller acquired stock in xAI on December 19, 2025, and the holding is valued between $500,000 and $1 million.
Financial disclosures typically report holdings in broad ranges rather than exact dollar amounts, meaning the precise value of her stake is not publicly known.
The disclosure also revealed that Miller began a consulting role with xAI in August 2025, according to a source cited by The Washington Post.
The timing of her stock purchase has drawn particular attention. Ten days before acquiring the shares, Miller hosted Musk on her podcast, where the two discussed xAI and other topics—without Miller disclosing her ties to the company.
According to an analysis by The Washington Post, Miller’s social media activity changed substantially after she acquired the xAI stock.
In the nine months following her purchase, Miller mentioned OpenAI, ChatGPT, or CEO Sam Altman more than 400 times, with nearly all of those posts described as negative. She also posted negatively about Anthropic 64 times and Google’s Gemini 33 times, while sharing positive messages about xAI and Grok 161 times.
One example cited in reporting was a September 4 post in which Miller wrote: “ChatGPT says President Trump is a 9 out of 10 level threat to Democracy. Imagine this AI in your kids classrooms with its revisionist history”.
Before acquiring the stock, Miller rarely mentioned OpenAI or other chatbots on social media, according to the Post’s analysis.
Elon Musk founded xAI in 2023 as a competitor to OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google in the rapidly growing artificial intelligence market.
The company’s flagship product is Grok, an AI chatbot that launched in late 2023 and is integrated with Musk’s social media platform X. Grok had approximately 117 million monthly active users as of March 2026 and generated roughly $500 million in annual recurring revenue by early 2026.
In February 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.25 trillion, with xAI itself valued at around $250 billion. The combined company went public in June 2026.
Musk’s connection to Katie Miller extends beyond business. She served as an adviser during his time leading DOGE and later worked with him privately before joining xAI as a consultant.
Holding an investment in a company does not, by itself, establish illegal conduct or prove that someone acted improperly.
There is a meaningful difference between several concepts that are often conflated in public discussion:
A financial interest is simply owning an asset, such as stock, that may increase or decrease in value.
A potential conflict of interest arises when a person’s financial interests could reasonably be seen as influencing their professional judgment or public statements.
A disclosed conflict occurs when that financial interest is properly reported to the appropriate authorities or audience.
An actual violation of ethics rules or law requires a specific finding by an authorized body that someone breached applicable standards.
In Miller’s case, the financial disclosure reported the xAI investment. What remains a subject of debate is whether her public commentary about AI competitors required additional disclosure to her social media audience, and whether her failure to provide that disclosure violated any applicable rules.
No authoritative body has issued a finding that Miller violated federal law.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued guidance stating that influencers should disclose financial, employment, family, or other material relationships with companies when making endorsements.
According to the FTC, such disclosures should be clear and difficult for audiences to miss.
Rebecca Tushnet, a professor of law at Harvard Law School, told The Washington Post that Miller’s situation would appear to fall under these guidelines. “Under any ordinary system—including the rules that the FTC has announced—she would need to disclose a financial motivation that would cause people to think about her recommendation differently,” Tushnet said.
However, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson publicly defended Miller, writing on X that “Nothing alleged in here violates any law the FTC enforces”.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Miller is no longer a government employee. She left the Trump administration to work in the private sector before launching her podcast. This means that government ethics rules applicable to federal employees may not directly apply to her current activities, though the FTC’s influencer disclosure guidelines are not limited to government workers.
Miller has denied that her investment influenced her social media posts.
“I’m not getting paid to post, I do it for the love of the game,” she wrote in a September 10 post on X.
In comments to The Washington Post, Miller dismissed concerns about her disclosure obligations, saying, “I’ve done what every other person in the world does, which is I own a stock in a company”. She also reportedly called The Post “fake news” when asked about the issue.
Miller characterized her posts as reflecting her personal interest rather than any financial motivation.
The controversy surrounding Miller’s xAI investment highlights the growing intersection of politics, technology, and financial interests as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to economic and national security debates.
The AI industry is characterized by intense competition among a small number of well-funded companies. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, is valued at tens of billions of dollars and remains the most widely used AI platform. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI researchers, has positioned itself as a safety-focused alternative. Google’s Gemini competes directly with both.
Musk’s xAI has positioned itself as a challenger to these established players, emphasizing what it describes as a less restrictive approach to content moderation and a commitment to “maximally truth-seeking” AI.
As these companies compete for market share, talent, and regulatory advantage, the political affiliations and financial interests of influential voices in the AI debate become increasingly relevant. When a politically connected podcaster with a substantial financial stake in one company regularly criticizes its competitors, questions arise about transparency and the potential for undisclosed conflicts of interest.
The Katie Miller case raises broader questions about transparency in an era when technology companies are increasingly intertwined with government policy and political debate.
Financial disclosures are designed to reveal potential conflicts of interest, allowing the public and oversight bodies to assess whether officials’ private interests might influence their public actions. But the rules governing disclosure are not always clear when individuals move between government service and private sector roles, or when they exercise influence through media platforms rather than official positions.
As AI companies compete for regulatory favor, government contracts, and public trust, the financial interests of those who shape public opinion on AI issues may become a subject of ongoing scrutiny. Whether existing disclosure frameworks are adequate to address these evolving dynamics remains an open question—one that the Miller case has brought into sharper focus.
For now, the situation serves as a reminder that in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, the lines between political influence, financial interest, and public advocacy are not always easy to distinguish.
Katie Miller is a conservative political adviser and podcaster. She previously served as press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence and later worked as a top adviser for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). She launched “The Katie Miller Podcast” in August 2025 and is married to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
According to a White House financial disclosure filed by her husband, Katie Miller owns between $500,000 and $1 million in xAI stock. The disclosure reports holdings in ranges rather than exact amounts.
She acquired the stock on December 19, 2025, according to the financial disclosure.
xAI is an artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk in 2023. Its flagship product is Grok, an AI chatbot integrated with Musk’s social media platform X. In February 2026, SpaceX acquired xAI in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $1.25 trillion.
According to an analysis by The Washington Post, Miller mentioned OpenAI, ChatGPT, or Sam Altman more than 400 times in the nine months after acquiring xAI stock, with nearly all posts described as negative. She also posted negatively about Anthropic 64 times and Google’s Gemini 33 times, while praising xAI and Grok 161 times.
No authoritative body has issued a finding that Katie Miller violated federal law. The FTC chairman has stated that the allegations do not violate laws the agency enforces. The situation raises questions about disclosure obligations, but questions are not proof of wrongdoing.
The FTC has issued guidance stating that influencers should disclose financial, employment, family, or other material relationships with companies when making endorsements. Such disclosures should be clear and difficult for audiences to miss.
A financial interest is simply owning an asset. A potential conflict of interest arises when financial interests could reasonably be seen as influencing professional judgment or public statements. An actual violation of ethics rules requires a specific finding by an authorized body.
Miller denied that her investment influenced her posts, writing on X: “I’m not getting paid to post, I do it for the love of the game.” She also said, “I’ve done what every other person in the world does, which is I own a stock in a company.”
The story highlights the growing intersection of politics, technology, and financial interests as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to economic and national security debates. It raises questions about whether existing disclosure frameworks provide enough transparency when politically connected individuals have investments in rapidly growing technology companies.