A little earlier this week, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney gained internet notoriety when the respected publication Protocol published a fresh article regarding one of his Twitter bots. And in case you didn’t know, the college student in question runs ElonJet, a tracker that in turn tweets when Elon Musk’s private jet takes off and lands. Jack Sweeney, by the way, has several other similarly functional bots that use publicly available air traffic data specifically to monitor the private jets of celebrities such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.
However, the ElonJet account with 180,000 followers is by far John Sweeney’s most famous creation. And yes, now this popularity has attracted the attention of none other than Elon Musk himself. And as soon as it became known, this entrepreneur contacted Jack Sweeney last fall regarding the ElonJet bot. “Can you take it away? It’s a security risk,” he told Jack, according to Protocol. Elon Musk also told Jack Sweeney that he would give him $ 5,000 to delete the account and prevent the “crazy” from finding out about his current whereabouts.
Landed in Austin, Texas, US. pic.twitter.com/4l7tKiUspp
— Elon Musk’s Jet (@ElonJet) January 26, 2022
However, Jack Sweeney decided not to agree, but instead to make a counter offer. “Is there any chance to raise this amount to 50 thousand dollars? That would be great college support and maybe get me a car, maybe even a Model 3,” he told the Tesla CEO. In response, Elon Musk told him that he would think about it, but they have not spoken since. At the time, Jack Sweeney told Protocol that he wasn’t worried about Elon Musk potentially stalking him. Working on ElonJet taught him how to code and landed him a part-time job at UberJets.
In addition, as a fan of Elon, he was also very happy to have the opportunity to talk with his idol. However, as it became known recently, the teenager, apparently, changed his mind. In a new interview with Business Insider, he said he decided to release the source code of the bot to the public, because, in his opinion, the billionaire lost interest in making a deal. “He went against me, so why shouldn’t I go against him? I did a great job on this and $5,000 is not enough,” said Jack Sweeney. He told Business Insider that the initial offer would not replace the “fun” he had with working on the bot.
