- Sam Altman’s new AI joint venture, Stargate, has drawn criticism from Elon Musk.
- Musk said on X that Stargate does not have the funds to build AI infrastructure. Altman responded.
- The exchange between the two men is another chapter in their long-running feud.
Elon Musk took to X to post an attack on Sam Altman after President Donald Trump announced a new joint venture between Altman’s OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle.
On Tuesday, Trump announced Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment project that would see the three companies join forces. Altman said Stargate would enable the construction of AGI, or artificial general intelligence, in the United States.
Musk, however, thought otherwise.
“They don’t really have any money,” Musk wrote in an X post Tuesday evening.
Musk was responding to a message from OpenAI that said the company would “begin deploying $100 billion immediately” as part of Stargate.
“SoftBank has secured well under $10 billion. I have that on good authority,” Musk added in a later post, without providing any evidence to support his claims.
Altman: Musk is wrong about Stargate
Altman began extending an olive branch to Musk on Wednesday.
“I sincerely respect your accomplishments and believe you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” Altman wrote in response to Musk’s post Tuesday evening.
But, a little over an hour after that message, Altman said in another message that he thought Musk was wrong about Stargate’s financial capital. He also invited Musk to tour Stargate’s first infrastructure site.
“I realize that what is great for the country is not always what is optimal for your businesses, but in your new role, I hope you put America first,” Altman wrote.
Musk did not respond head-on to Altman’s comments. Instead, the Tesla CEO shared an X-rated Altman post from December 2021, in which Altman thanked LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman for helping prevent Trump from winning re-election in 2020.
Very few people realize how @reidhoffman what we did and spent to prevent Trump from being re-elected – it seems reasonably likely to me that Trump would still be in power without his efforts. Thanks Reid!
–Sam Altman (@sama) December 15, 2021
Altman was present at Trump’s inauguration on January 20 and took a more conciliatory tone toward the Trump administration. On Wednesday evening, Altman said in an X-post that he had changed his mind about Trump after observing the president “more closely recently.”
“I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he’ll be amazing for the country in so many ways!” Altman wrote about X.
look @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him (I wish I had thought more about it and definitely fallen into the NPC trap).
I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be amazing for the country in so many ways!
–Sam Altman (@sama) January 23, 2025
Musk and Altman did not respond to BI’s requests for comment.
Musk vs. Altman
Musk and Altman’s exchanges on Stargate are not surprising, given their strained relationship.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015. He left OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018.
Musk is now a vocal critic of the ChatGPT creator. He has also worked on his own AI projects, both at Tesla and his AI startup, xAI.
In February, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing it of violating its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft. The lawsuit was withdrawn in June, but Musk refiled it in August.
In November, Musk’s lawyers filed an injunction against OpenAI to stop its conversion into a for-profit entity. An OpenAI spokesperson told Business Insider that Musk’s injunction was “completely baseless.”
So far, Altman has been largely diplomatic in his comments about Musk. This is despite the nickname Musk gave him: “Swindly Sam”.
“I don’t think he’s a nice person and doesn’t treat us fairly, but you have to respect the guy and he pushes us all to be more ambitious,” Altman wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
