If anybody can give me some insight into what the rucksack they mean by "conmen" when using it to characterize Musk and Altman, I would be forever grateful.

Musk is a genius who gets carried away with self-promotion and spends part of it to buy influence--I have no serious issues with that. He's earned the right to flex. Trillionaire privilege.

Altman OTOH is a well-documented serial liar. He lies about literally EVERYTHING. If you want to learn about some of the really important things Altman lies about--ask the OpenAI Board of Directors--which fired him. Or just read about the reasons why they fired him. Or ask friends--people who LIKE him who say he lies about pretty much everything from his golf scores to what he ate for breakfast. If there's an opportunity to lie about anything it's almost like Atman seeks it out.

Do a Google search and read the New Yorker investigative piece-- I believe its April 6th: The secret board meetings, the long pattern of misrepresentation, how he dismantled plans to make OpenAI a public source for good, his disregard for board members concerns about AI safety. So OpenAI fired him. And then...learn why...quite reluctantly they had to take him back.

If you're not concerned about a world in which Altman commands substantial power, you're not paying attention.