Allies of President Donald Trump are said to be angry after tech mogul Elon Musk publicly trashed his $500 billon artificial intelligence deal, even though Trump himself shrugged it off, Politico reported.
One Trump ally said Musk abused his closeness to the president with his comment, while another said Trump staffers were "furious" at Musk after Trump called the deal "tremendous" and "monumental," Politico reported.
The new entity, Stargate, will start building data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum, with funding from SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle.
"It's big money and high-quality people," Trump said Tuesday, adding that it's "a resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration.
Musk, a key supporter of Trump, questioned the source of the funding
"They don't actually have the money," Musk posted late Tuesday on his social media platform X, in response to a post from OpenAI announcing the partnership.
Musk said he was referring to SoftBank in a follow-up X post, saying they have less than $10 billion secured.
Trump told reporters the tech companies will be funding the project and that Musk's comments didn't bother him.
"The government's not putting up anything. They're putting up money. They're very rich people, so I hope they do," Trump said. "And, I mean, Elon doesn't like one of those people."
Musk and CEO Sam Altman were co-chairs of OpenAI when it launched in 2015, but Musk later sued the company after leaving, claiming it strayed from its founding mission, The Washington Post reported. Musk later started his own AI company, xAI.
A White House official told Politico that the staff is working with Musk to make sense of his ideas.
"Ideas are innovative. Execution not so much," said one staffer.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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