Elon Musk, Sam Altman Clash as Trump Backs OpenAI CEO For World’s Largest AI Project- wna24

Washington DC: A public rift emerged between tech moguls Elon Musk and Sam Altman over US President Donald Trump ‘s ambitious $500 billion Stargate AI project, a joint venture involving OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle. The disagreement centres around claims made by Musk that the funds promised for the project might not be available as expected.

The clash is a rare instance between Musk, the world’s richest man, and President Donald Trump after the former played a significant role in Trump’s new administration after investing $270 million in his election campaign.

On his first day in office, President Trump on Tuesday unveiled the Stargate initiative, a groundbreaking investment to develop AI infrastructure in the US, led by SoftBank and OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. Trump touted the venture, calling it a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential.” The project is expected to invest at least $500 billion in AI infrastructure, with an initial private investment of $100 billion, potentially growing five times that amount.

Stargate has already begun constructing data centres and generating electricity to support the fast-evolving AI technology. However, Musk, an advisor involved in a government cost-cutting initiative (DOGE), raised concerns about the project’s financial backing. He publicly criticiSed the venture, claiming that SoftBank’s secured funds fall significantly short.

“They don’t actually have the money. SoftBank has well under USD 10B secured. I have that on good authority,” the Tesla CEO said in a post on X.

Following Musk’s comments, Altman in a post responded by saying, “Wrong, as you surely know,” adding “Want to come visit the first site already under way? This is great for the country. I realise what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put American first.”

The public clash over Stargate is part of a years-long dispute between Musk and Altman that began with a boardroom rivalry over who should run OpenAI, which both men helped found.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the AI company last year alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab benefiting the public good rather than pursuing profits.

Since the the dispute escalated, adding new claims and asking for a court order that would stop OpenAI’s plans to convert itself into a for-profit business more fully. A hearing is set for early February in a California federal court.

The world’s richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI, that is building its big data centre in Memphis, Tennessee. Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT.

Tech news outlet The Information first reported on an OpenAI data centre project called Stargate in March 2024, indicating that it’s been in the works long before Trump announced it.

Another company — Crusoe Energy Systems — announced in July it was building a large and “specially designed AI data center” outside Abilene, Texas at a site run by energy technology company Lancium. Crusoe and Lancium said in a joint statement at the time that the project was “supported by a multimillion-dollar investment” but didn’t disclose its backers.

Both companies also said the energy-hungry project would be powered with renewable sources of electricity such as nearby solar farms, in a way that Lancium CEO Michael McNamara said would “deliver the maximum amount of green energy at the lowest possible cost.” Crusoe said it would own and develop the facility.

It’s not clear how and when that project became the first phase of the Stargate investment revealed by Trump. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison said Tuesday that the Abilene project is the first of about 10 data center buildings currently being built and that number could expand to 20.