President Trump on Thursday said he was unbothered by ally Elon Musk publicly criticizing an investment Trump touted for a new artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project.
Musk has in recent days clashed with one of the project’s investors, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.
“No it doesn’t. He hates one of the people in the deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if Musk’s criticism bothered him.
“I’ve spoken to Elon. I’ve spoken to all of them, actually. The people in the deal are very, very smart people,” Trump continued. “But Elon, one of the people in the deal he happens to hate, but I have certain hatreds of people too.”
Trump announced the Stargate AI project at a press conference Tuesday alongside Altman, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. But Musk quickly clashed with Altman on social media and questioned the funding for the project.
Musk, an adviser to Trump, on Wednesday claimed “they don’t actually have the money” and later said, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured.”
Altman initially responded with praise for Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with him in 2015 but left the company in 2018 over concerns about the future of the AI firm. But Altman was more direct later.
“Wrong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country,” he posted on the social platform X, which Musk owns. “i realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you’ll mostly put [the U.S.] first.”
Later Wednesday, Musk fired off or reposted at least 10 posts slamming OpenAI’s plans to restructure into a for-profit business.
The Stargate project will focus on building the infrastructure needed to support AI development and meet the high energy demands of the technology. Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at bolstering American investments in artificial intelligence and to make the U.S. the “world capital” for the technology.
