Elon Musk Expresses Doubts About $500 Billion AI Venture Touted By Donald Trump — Update

UPDATED, with Musk comments: Donald Trump appeared with three prominent tech executives to unveil a private sector initiative to build AI infrastructure in the United States, with an outlay of up to $500 billion.

But hours after the announcement, one of Trump’s key allies, Elon Musk, expressed doubts.

The venture will be called Stargate, and it will include OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank.

“I think it’s going to be something that’s very special,” Trump told reporters from the Roosevelt Room. “It could lead to something that could be the biggest of all.”

Joining Trump were Oracle chief technology officer Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President,” Altman said.

On Tuesday, per Reuters, Trump revoked an executive order signed by Joe Biden aimed at reducing the dangers of AI, with companies required to share safety tests with the U.S. government before public release of AI systems. Then, Altman was among the CEOs who committed to the guidelines.

Noticeably absent from the announcement was Elon Musk, Trump’s key ally who has been tasked with leading an effort called the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk also has long warned of the dangers of AI, and in posts on X late on Tuesday, he expressed doubts that Stargate actually had the investment resources.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote.

He added, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

At the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Trump cited competition from China as a reason for urgency for the Stargate project.

Ellison told reporters that 10 data centers actually are already under construction in Texas, with each building a half million square feet. That will expand to 20 locations, he said. He and other executives emphasized the promise of AI in health and medicine. Altman said that the venture would be “the most important project of this era,” with the promise of centering the new industry in the U.S. and creating “hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

But there also is worry that AI will trigger massive job displacement, as was expressed when the Senate held a series of forums featuring experts, executives, union leaders and others, including Musk and Altman, with the purpose of establishing guardrails around the new technology. No legislation ever passed Congress.