Earlier this week, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney gained a little bit of web fame when Protocol printed a narrative about one among his Twitter bots. The faculty scholar maintains ElonJet, a tracker that tweets out when Elon Musk’s personal jet takes off and lands. Sweeney has a number of different such bots that use publicly obtainable air visitors knowledge to observe the personal planes of celebrities like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. However, with 180,000 followers and counting, the ElonJet account is by far Sweeney’s most well-known creation. And it’s that reputation that attracted none apart from Elon Musk to the bot.
Landed in Austin, Texas, US. pic.twitter.com/4l7tKiUspp
— Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet) January 26, 2022
Last fall, the entrepreneur contacted Sweeney about ElonJet. “Can you take this down? It is a security risk,” he mentioned, in line with Protocol. Musk informed Sweeney he would give him $5,000 to delete the account and preserve “crazy people” from discovering out his whereabouts. Sweeney made a counteroffer. “Any chance to up that to $50k? It would be great support in college and would possibly allow me to get a car maybe even a Model 3.”
Musk informed him he would give it some thought, however the two haven’t spoken since. At the time, Sweeney informed Protocol he wasn’t bothered by Musk ghosting him. His work on ElonJet had taught him how you can code and landed him a part-time job with an organization referred to as UberJets. Plus, as a self-proclaimed fan, he acquired to share a dialog with one among his idols.
Now the teenager appears to have modified his tune. In a brand new interview with Business Insider, he mentioned he determined to go public with Musk’s supply after the billionaire seemingly misplaced curiosity in slicing a deal. “He went the other means of me, so why would not I’m going the other means of him?” he requested the publication. “I’ve finished plenty of work on this and $5,000 shouldn’t be sufficient,” Sweeney mentioned. He informed Business Insider the preliminary supply wouldn’t substitute the “fun” he’s had engaged on the bot.
It doesn’t look like Musk has any curiosity in negotiating with Sweeney. Following their preliminary dialog, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO applied among the technical recommendation Sweeney gave him to make his jet tougher to trace. At the time, Musk reportedly additionally informed Sweeney it didn’t “feel right to pay to shut this down.” He in all probability has some extent.