Its clear from listening to podcasts/interviews, he does not want to say anything to get on elons bad side. Interviewers appear to also not be eager to broach the subject.

If indeed he doesn't have the heart for basic honesty then why should anyone listen to him about anything?

This is not a high bar. This is not some impossible moral standard to be held to.

This really is an easy one.

Being honest about self-driving AI gets you sued by the richest guy on earth.

Everything has a cost. Fear of doing the right thing isn't worth it.

That's a very cute power rangers way of saying it, but c'mon, it's easy to say when it's not you who is the target of a limitless revenge machine.

You can embrace a nihilistic weakness or you can do the right thing. It's not complex.

If Karpathy is genuinely compromised to the point where he can no longer do the right thing then no one should listen to him.

Honesty is not the same thing as justified dishonesty.

If you can paint him as a rational agent for lying, you can still be a rational agent and ignore his lies.