The AI ​​project that Donald Trump supports and sparked a fight between Elon Musk and Sam Altman

Tesla CEO and White House advisor Elon Muskcast doubt on the financing of a major artificial intelligence (AI) project that the new president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday.

The project, called ‘Stargate’, seeks to invest up to 500 billion dollars over the next four years to build up to twenty new data centers to support AI projects.

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The companies

Oracle and SoftBank will initially invest $100 billion and allocate up to $500 billion to Stargate over the next four years.

“The truth is that they don’t have the money,” Musk said on his social network, X.

In that sense, the South African detailed in a second publication: “SoftBank has less than 10 billion dollars insured. I know it from a good source.”

However, these comments from Musk were one more excuse to make fun of OpenAI and its executive director, Sam Altmanwith whom he has had a rivalry for years that has become increasingly public as the two try to make their way in the race for dominance of the AI ​​market.

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For his part, Altman chose to respond to Musk: “I sincerely respect your achievements and believe that you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” without noting whether this message had to be read ironically or was sincere.

Project Stargate will begin in Texas and the companies involved, for the moment, are Arm – which is part of the Japanese SoftBank group -, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle and OpenAI.

Musk was one of the founders of OpenAIbut he later parted ways with the company and since they launched ChatGPT to great success he has said on several occasions that OpenAI is taking AI in dangerous directions for the future of humanity.

Musk, who is the richest person in the world, was one of the largest donors to the Republican magnate’s 2024 presidential campaign and now leads a government efficiency commission in the new administration.

“Write down that name, Stargate, because you’re going to hear it a lot,” Trump said in statements to the press at the White House. The president assured that this investment will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States and stressed the importance of promoting investment in artificial intelligence in the country to face competition with China, which is making large investments in the sector.

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“We want this technology to stay in our country. China is a competitor and, in the future of technology, we want it to stay in this country. China is a competitor and others are too. We want it to be here,” he said.

After Trump spoke, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son appeared before the press; that of OpenAI, Sam Altman, and that of Oracle, Larry Ellison, who arrived at the White House on Tuesday afternoon.

MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP

Son stated that this is the “beginning of a new era” for artificial intelligence, with advances that could mean important progress in the medical field, something that Trump also highlighted as one of the tangible advantages of this investment, which could facilitate a cure. of cancer.

Oracle is one of the leaders in data centers and one of the fastest growing thanks to the AI ​​boom and its investment in data center energy efficiency, while the Japanese multinational Softbank is one of the best connected technology investors of the planet.

Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, investment in AI has increased and companies in different sectors have incorporated this technology into their products and services.

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