A new era in Artificial Intelligence has dawned in the United States with Donald Trump blessings. Three tech giants, in their pursuit for global dominance in AI, have united for the cause – setting up the world’s largest AI project. It will be called ‘Stargate’. The announcement was made by Donald Trump at a special press conference at the White House. Elon Musk, however, has cast his doubt over the mega project.
The team which will spearhead the ambitious project includes Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Nvidia is also reportedly in talks over a possible partnership in the project, however, there is no confirmation from their side yet.
STARGATE LAUNCH AT WHITE HOUSE
The CEOs of the three firms joined President Donald Trump at the White House to officially launch the Stargate project. Announcing it, President Trump said this will be “the largest AI infrastructure project in history”, with an investment of “at least $500 billion”, of which the first installment will be $100 billion. The President further said that the project will create more than 100,000 jobs in the US.
Stargate, he said, will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI.” Adding to that, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said Stargate’s first one-million square-feet data centre is already under construction in Texas.
ELON MUSK’S ‘FOMO’ MOMENT?
Interestingly, one of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters and confidant, Elon Musk, has been kept out of the project. Shortly after the White House press conference got over, Elon Musk made a snide remark on his social media platform X. His post seems to suggest that he might be somewhat irked by this mega project.
Announcing The Stargate Project
The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure…
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) January 21, 2025
Replying directly to OpenAI’s post on X about Stargate, Elon Musk wrote, “They don’t actually have the money ($500 billion).” In another post, he said, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2025
He also engaged with X users who mocked the project. “OpenAI and Microsoft are done,” wrote a user, suggesting a fallout between the two tech partners, to which Elon Musk replied, saying “Seems to be the case”.
The Tesla, SpaceX, X Chairman, who has his own AI firm ‘xAI’ – directly competes with Sam Altman’s OpenAI.
ELON MUSK vs SAM ALTMAN – FROM OPEN-AI CO-FOUNDERS TO AI NEMESIS
It is also interesting to note that Elon Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI when it started in 2015. Being a non-profit, when it required funding, Elon Musk had even funded the project. But Musk left OpenAi in 2018.
In recent times, the relationship between Elon Musk and Sam Altman / OpenAI has soured to a great degree, with the world’s richest person suing the ChatGPT maker. Musk has filed multiple lawsuits against OpenAI and Sam Altman, claiming that the ChatGPT-maker violates licensing agreements and anti-trust laws.
In one of his lawsuits, Elon Musk has even claimed that OpenAI and Sam Altman have manipulated him from the very beginning – when they ‘lured’ him into co-founding the company.
In his latest lawsuit against tech partner-turned-arch-rival Sam Altman, Musk claims the OpenAI case is a “textbook tale of altruism versus greed”. Musk further claimed that Sam Altman and his partners betrayed Musk by turning the company from a non-profit into a largely for-profit enterprise. “The perfidy and deceit is of Shakespearean proportions,” Musk’s lawsuit states.
OpenAI has denied these allegations, however, it is a fact that OpenAI recently declared that it will move from being a ‘non-profit’ to a ‘for-profit’ organisation – a move that faced a lot of criticism.
SAM ALTMAN’S THANKS PRESIDENT TRUMP
Sam Altman has now declared that Stargate will solidify America’s position as a global leader in AI technology. Thanking President Donald Trump at the White House press conference, Mr Altman said, “I think this will be the most important project of this era, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, cloud giant Oracle, which is one of the partners in Stargate, has roughly $11 billion in cash and securities. SoftBank, the third partner in the project has roughly $30 billion. OpenAI, which is running on borrowed funds so far, is a loss-making organisation – But at the press conference the three firms committed to invest an initial $100 billion in the Stargate project, and at least $500 billion over the next four years.