“What’s good for the country isn’t always optimal for your companies.” Sam Altman and Elon Musk publicly clash over the Stargate AI project

During a meeting at the White House, Trump spoke about a joint venture with investments of up to $500 billion, created by OpenAI together with Oracle and SoftBank, AP recalls. Stargate, is already starting to build data centers and generate electricity necessary for the further development of AI technology.

Stargate was first reported last spring, but as a supercomputer that Microsoft and OpenAI plan to create, and which could be 100 times more expensive than the largest data centers.

Trump called it a «loud declaration of confidence in America’s potential» under his new administration, with an initial private investment of $100 billion that could increase fivefold.

However, Musk, a close adviser to Trump who helped finance his election campaign and is now leading a government initiative to reduce DOGE spending, questioned the value of this investment a few hours later.

«They actually have no money. SoftBank has much less than $10 billion. I know this from good sources», — Elon Musk wrote on his social platform X (Twitter).

Sam Altman responded by saying that Musk was wrong and invited him to visit the first site in Texas, which is already under construction.

«It’s great for the country. I understand that what’s great for the country isn’t always optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you’ll put the country’s interests first», — Altman replied to Musk.

wrong, as you surely know.

want to come visit the first site already under way?

this is great for the country. 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 🇺🇸 first.

— Sam Altman (@sama) January 22, 2025

The public dispute over Stargate is part of a long-standing feud between Musk and Altman that began with a boardroom rivalry over who should run OpenAI, which they both founded.

Musk, an early investor and board member of OpenAI, sued the company, claiming it had betrayed the purpose of its founding as a nonprofit research lab that works for the good of society rather than for profit.

He later added new claims and even sought an injunction that would stop OpenAI from fully turning itself into a commercial business. A new round of court hearings is scheduled for February.

In 2023, Altman mocked the Grok chatbot announced by Elon Musk on X (Twitter). The owner of the social network did not hesitate and rushed to the comments on this post with insults directed at ChatGPT and its creator, OpenAI.