LINCOLN — He isn’t yet responding to requests to talk to Nebraska media. But others are talking a lot about former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student Luke Farritor’s reported role in Elon Musk’s effort to reduce federal government spending.
Farritor — the co-winner of a $700,000 prize last year for helping decipher the Greek words on a volcanically charred, 2,000-year-old scroll — was identified by Wired magazine on Sunday as one of six young computer whizzes working with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. That group, created by President Donald Trump, is led by Musk, the world’s richest man.
The effort is receiving praise and criticism for analyzing reams of federal government data, including payments people receive from the government that critics say contain sensitive private banking information.
Farritor, a 23-year-old Lincoln native, had been an intern at Musk’s Space X while studying computer science at UNL’s Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management.
On Tuesday night, a man who described himself as a “friend of the family” waved off a reporter seeking to speak to Farritor at a southeast Lincoln home identified as his residence.
“He’s not even here,” said the man, who emerged from a white pickup with dark-tinted windows that was facing the street with its engine running.
By midday Wednesday, Farritor had not responded to a text seeking comment or a request to speak to an Examiner reporter, which was forwarded through the man in the driveway. He also didn’t respond to a request by The Lincoln Journal Star.
But his reported role has sparked plenty of discussion on social media.
On Tuesday, State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a registered nonpartisan, wrote on X that while Farritor’s work in deciphering the scroll demonstrated that “he’s clearly a genius … why does he have my social security number?”
Last week, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Treasury had granted DOGE access to the government payment records of millions of Americans. This access sparked a lawsuit Tuesday by unions and an alliance representing federal workers and retirees.
Wrote Hunt: “This unprecedented access raises constitutional concerns that demand the attention of our federal delegation.”
Several responses to Hunt’s X post argued that Musk and his young sleuths may have violated federal law and invaded people’s privacy. Others defended Farritor and DOGE, with some asking why anyone would oppose making government more efficient.
“Luke is an incredibly hard person to hate,” said another, who included a video done by UNL. The video explained the award-winning work, using AI, by Farritor and his collaborators, Youssef Nader and Julian Schilliger, to decipher an ancient scroll buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Farritor, whose father is a UNL mechanical engineering professor, was driving to his internship at Space X in Texas in March 2023 when he learned of the major prize, the “Vesuvius Challenge,” being offered to whoever could decipher an ancient scroll found among the ruins of Pompeii, according to The Free Press, a Los Angeles-based news site.
He reportedly left UNL before graduating to work for a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He earned a fellowship from a foundation tied to tech venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who has supported Trump.
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