Billionaire Elon Musk opposes Trump's $500 billion AI project?
Shortly after President Donald Trump announced a “massive new” investment from the White House in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, his first “fellow traveler” Elon Musk tried to tear it down.
According to CNN, protesting President Trump's AI infrastructure project, billionaire Elon Musk wrote on his social network X: "They really don't have any money. SoftBank has less than $10 billion in guarantees. I have reliable sources."
In this massive project, President Donald Trump said the investment will create a new company, called Stargate, to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US. The leaders of SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle stood next to President Trump during the announcement. Their companies will invest a total of $100 billion to start the project, with plans to pour as much as $500 billion into Stargate in the coming years.
According to CNN, the comments from Elon Musk – one of President Trump's closest confidants – are a notable downgrade of a major White House project.
Musk has previously indicated that he was involved in the Trump administration in its early days. Musk said he was in the Oval Office on January 22 when Trump pardoned Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the SilkRoad black market. Musk also deployed a senior employee from his SpaceX and X companies to help secure the release of prisoners convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, events, after Trump signed a comprehensive pardon.
But perhaps it’s no surprise that billionaire Elon Musk is taking a swipe at the OpenAI initiative. Musk is in an ongoing lawsuit with OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman. Musk has said he “doesn’t trust” Altman, who claims in the lawsuit that ChatGPT has abandoned its original nonprofit mission by reserving some of its most advanced AI technology for private customers.
The companies involved in Stargate have not publicly disclosed how they will contribute money, but they do not necessarily need to have money in the bank to invest, they could raise debt or sign contracts with other equity investors.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on January 22 (Washington time) dismissed billionaire Musk's comments. Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News that "Americans should trust the words of President Trump and CEOs."
“President Trump was very excited about this announcement of infrastructure in the area of AI, which is clearly growing and something that the United States needs to take advantage of, because our adversaries, like China, are very advanced in this area,” Leavitt said.
“So the American people should believe what President Trump and CEOs say — these investments are coming to our great country, and American jobs are coming,” the White House press secretary said.
