President Donald Trump downplayed the public dispute between tech CEOs Elon Musk and Sam Altman over a $500 billion AI project announced by the White House on Tuesday.
Musk had expressed doubt about the participating companies’ ability to fund the project, but Trump attributed the criticism to personal animosity between Musk and Altman.
“No, he hates one of the people,” Trump said, referring to Musk’s apparent dislike of Altman, without actually naming anyone. “I’ve spoken to Elon, but—spoken to all of them, actually. The people in the deal are very, very smart people– but Elon, one of the people in the deal he happens to hate. But I have certain hatreds of people too,” he added.
Shortly after the announcement of the new AI infrastructure investment involving Altman’s OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank, Musk questioned the financial capacity of the companies on his social media platform X, claiming that SoftBank had “well under $10B secured.”
When questioned about the reality of Musk’s under-funding claims, Trump shrugged them off too saying, ” “I don’t know. They’re putting up the money, the government isn’t. They’re very rich people. I hope they do. Elon doesn’t like one of those people.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended the project, stating that “the American people should take President Trump and those CEOs’ words for it.”
The new company, Stargate, aims to grow artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States, with an initial investment of $100 billion and plans to invest up to $500 billion in the coming years.
Musk and Altman have since engaged in a public feud on X, with Musk sharing Altman’s past critical posts about Trump.
The ongoing lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI, in which Musk claims that ChatGPT has abandoned its nonprofit mission by reserving advanced AI technology for private customers is also said to be a contributing factor towards Musk’s skepticism towards the Stargate initiative.
Elon Musk has been a prominent presence for the Trump administration. He supported Trump during the elections campaigns by showing up at rallies and also monetary donations. He has also been chosen by Trump to head the new department of government efficiency (DOGE).
