TL;DR

  • Donald Trump endorses a $500 billion AI initiative by OpenAI, touting its significance for U.S. leadership.
  • Elon Musk, a key ally, undermines the project by claiming its major backer, SoftBank, has secured under $10 billion.
  • Musk's skepticism stems from previous conflicts with OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, amidst his own AI ambitions.

Donald Trump green-flagged a $500 billion AI investment initiative of OpenAI on Tuesday, talking it up about as much as he could.

“It’s big money and high quality people,” he said, highlighting that this was just one among the many successes to be had under his administration.

Yet, now here is his key ally Elon Musk casting doubts on that very initiative.

What Happened: In a vibrant exchange that intersects technology, finance, and politics, Elon Musk has cast significant doubt on OpenAI’s recently unveiled Stargate Project, a $500 billion endeavor aimed at boosting AI infrastructure in the United States.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk tweeted, alleging that SoftBank, one of the project’s major backers, has secured far less than stated.

According to Musk, SoftBank has amassed well under $10 billion for the initiative, labeling the financial structure of the endeavor as shaky.

His remarks came trailing OpenAI’s ambitious announcement that emphasized bolstering U.S. leadership in AI and re-industrializing America with jobs and enhanced national security.

The project, chaired by Masayoshi Son, includes participation from tech titans Oracle, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and ARMs.

Is Musk’s Criticism Surprising? Not really. Trump and Musk have secured an alliance but both have been vocal about their agendas and priorities outside of this partnership.

Musk has a bone to pick with OpenAI and especially its CEO Sam Altman. He was an early backer of the company that now no longer aligns with its open-source origins.

The world’s richest person is currently suing OpenAI, challenging its shift to a for-profit initiative, and has publicly criticized Altman on more than one occassion.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has alleged that OpenAI and its investor Microsoft “exploited” his donations to create a dangerous AI monopoly.

Musk launched his own AI company xAI which makes the Grok large language models to rival OpenAI.

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