Musk had called into question how much money OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank had raised for Stargate. The joint venture is supposed to invest $500 billion, but Musk tweeted that SoftBank had "well under $10B secured." At a press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Trump whether Musk's criticism bothered him. "No, it doesn't," Trump replied to the reporter. "He hates one of the people in the deal," he added, presumably referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with whom Musk has been sparring online. Musk was one of the people who founded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman. Since then, he has left the company, started a legal battle with OpenAI, and founded xAI, a competing AI startup. In response to a follow-up question on Thursday, Trump said that the parties involved in Stargate are "very, very smart people."
President Donald Trump announced a new AI project called Stargate, aiming to strengthen artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States with an initial investment of $100 billion from participating companies. Tech CEO Elon Musk questioned the financial backing of the project, stating, “They don’t actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10B secured.” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Musk have exchanged criticisms on social media, with Musk expressing distrust towards Altman amid an ongoing lawsuit. Trump dismissed Musk’s doubts as personal animosity, saying, “He hates one of the people in the deal,” referring to Altman.
Trump staffers are reportedly angry with Elon Musk for publicly undermining the $500 billion Stargate Project. Musk has questioned the finances behind the AI infrastructure project and used his social media influence to attack one of the project’s leaders. Some Donald Trump staffers are reportedly fuming with “first buddy” Elon Musk after the billionaire publicly undermined the president’s multi-billion dollar AI infrastructure announcement. One Trump ally told Politico that Musk had abused his closeness to the president in a series of social media posts where he questioned the finances behind the $500 billion Stargate Project. Another Republican close to the White House told the news outlet Trump’s staff was “furious” over Musk’s use of his social media influence to attack the high-profile project.
