President Trump said Thursday that he is not concerned about his ally Elon Musk's public criticism of investments in new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure projects that he has touted.
Musk has clashed in recent days with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, one of the project's investors.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office if Musk's criticism bothered him, Trump told reporters: “No, he hates one of the people involved in the deal.”
“I talked to Elon. In fact, I talked to all of them. The people who are in the deal are very, very smart people,” Trump continued. “But Elon happens to be one of the people in the deal, and I also have a certain hatred for humans.”
Trump announced his investment in the Stargate AI project at a press conference on Tuesday, along with Altman, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and others. But Musk soon clashed with Altman on social media, questioning funding for the project.
Musk, the Trump adviser, claimed Wednesday that “they don't actually have the money,” and later said, “SoftBank has secured far less than $10 billion.”
Altman initially responded by praising Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left the company in 2018 due to concerns about the AI company's future. But Altman later became more direct.
“No, you know it. Why not visit the first site that is already in progress? This is great for the country,” he posted on X. “We understand that what's great for the country isn't necessarily what's best for your company, but in your new role, we hope that's what you focus on.” [the U.S.] beginning. “
Late Wednesday, Musk posted or reposted at least 10 posts denouncing OpenAI's plans to turn it into a commercial enterprise.
The Stargate project will focus on building the infrastructure needed to support AI development and meet the technology's high energy demands. President Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at ramping up U.S. investment in artificial intelligence and making the U.S. the technology's “capital of the world.”
