Does billionaire Elon Musk oppose Trump's $500 billion AI project?

According to CNN, opposing President Trump's AI infrastructure project, billionaire Elon Musk wrote on his X social media account: "They really don't have the money. SoftBank has less than $10 billion in collateral. I have reliable sources."

In this massive project, President Donald Trump stated that the investment would create a new company, called Stargate, to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States. Leaders from SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle stood alongside President Trump at the announcement. Their companies will invest a total of $100 billion to kickstart the project, with plans to inject up to $500 billion into Stargate in the coming years.

According to CNN, comments from Elon Musk – one of President Trump's closest confidants – represent a significant blow to a major White House project.

Previously, there were many indications that Musk had begun to get involved in President Trump's administration in the early days. Musk stated that he was present in the Oval Office on January 22nd, when President Trump signed a pardon for Ross William Ulbricht, the founder of the SilkRoad "black market." Additionally, Musk also deployed a senior employee from his SpaceX and X companies to help secure the release of prisoners convicted in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, following President Trump's signing of the comprehensive pardon.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, billionaire Elon Musk is pursuing the OpenAI initiative. Musk is currently involved in an ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman. Musk stated that he "doesn't trust" Altman, who claimed in the lawsuit that ChatGPT abandoned its original non-profit mission by dedicating some of its most advanced AI technologies to private clients.

The companies participating in Stargate have not publicly disclosed how they will contribute money, but they don't necessarily need to have cash in the bank to invest; they could raise debt or enter into contracts with other equity investors.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on January 22 (Washington time) rejected comments from billionaire Musk. Leavitt said in an interview with Fox News that "the American people should trust the words of President Trump and CEOs."

“President Trump was very excited about the announcement of this infrastructure in the AI ​​field, a field that is clearly growing and something the U.S. needs to take advantage of, because our rivals, such as China, are very advanced in this area,” Leavitt said.

"Therefore, the American people should trust the words of President Trump and the CEOs – these investments are coming to our great country, and Americans will also get more jobs from them," the White House press secretary said.