Randall, Hugo, and Venis attempt to kill Jeff because they believe he has betrayed them by planning to take his AI system, BILTER, to the U.S. government to regulate Venis' AI and stop misinformation, which threatens their plans. Randall fears Jeff is standing in the way of their ambitions, including Venis' transhumanist tech goals, and they rationalize that killing Jeff might save lives in the future. This leads to several comedic assassination attempts throughout the film.

The trio first tries to throw Jeff off a stairwell, which fails comically. Next, they attempt to smother him with a pillow while he sleeps, but Jeff escapes. Eventually, they trap him in a sauna, douse the door and inside with gasoline, and prepare to immolate him. Jeff's desperate negotiation in the sauna leads to a deal that spares his life.

While trapped in the sauna, Jeff hastily drafts terms of an agreement to sign over his AI system, BILTER, to Venis' company, Traam. The others agree to release him after working out the details. The next morning, Jeff confronts his friends and agrees to the deal on the condition that Randall be excluded. However, Jeff expresses doubt that Traam will succeed even with BILTER's help.

Randall Garrett, played by Steve Carell, is the elder statesman of the group and is terminally ill. He fears Jeff's plan will block his hope of using Venis' transhumanist technology to upload his brain to the cloud. Randall instigates the plan to kill Jeff and is involved in the assassination attempts. At the end, Randall is excluded from the deal and is seen riding away from Mountainhead looking dejected.

Hugo 'Souper' Van Yalk, played by Jason Schwartzman, is the pitiable owner of the lodge, initially worth about 500 million dollars. He is promised billionaire status if he helps with the plan against Jeff. By the film's end, after the deal with Jeff goes through, Souper finally achieves billionaire status and is shown overlooking the mountain scenery while following a meditation exercise.