Elon Musk “very much” overstepped his bounds when he criticized a $500 billion artificial intelligence project touted by President Donald Trump, according to a White House official as aides are reportedly “furious” with the tech mogul while allies lament that he “abused the proximity to the president.”
“The problem is the president doesn’t have any leverage over him and Elon gives zero f–ks,” a Trump ally told the Politico news site on Thursday.
Musk angered Trump aides when he spoke up in response to the president’s rollout on Tuesday of Stargate — a $500 billion AI infrastructure project involving OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX.
The comments by Musk ignited speculation within Republican circles that Trump and the Tesla boss, who has amassed so much influence in the administration that he has been given his own office in the West Wing of the White House, will eventually part ways, Politico reported.
The Post has sought comment from Musk and the White House.
The criticism by Musk, who was conspicuously absent from the Stargate rollout on Tuesday, enraged a prominent Trump ally, Steve Bannon.
Bannon, former chief strategist for Trump, urged White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to address the situation promptly. He blasted Musk for having “brought in his own personal vendetta.”
The Stargate project entails the construction of large-scale data centers and the generation of significant energy resources which its proponents say will lead to the creation of over 100,000 jobs.
OpenAI is led by CEO Sam Altman, a Musk nemesis.
Altman appeared alongside Trump at an Oval Office news briefing. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a close friend of Musk, and SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son were also at the briefing with Trump.
Trump on Tuesday declared Stargate “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration, with an initial private investment of $100 billion that could reach five times that sum.
But Musk, a close Trump adviser who helped bankroll his campaign and now leads a government cost-cutting initiative, questioned the value of the investment hours later.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on his social platform X. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
Altman responded Wednesday to say Musk was “wrong, as you surely know” and inviting Musk to come visit the first site in Texas that is already under construction.
“(T)his 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 (America) first,” Altman wrote, using a US flag emoji to represent America.
Trump downplayed Musk’s skepticism about the $500 billion AI project — attributing it to personal animosity rather than a critique of its viability.
Trump told reporters that Musk’s remarks stemmed from his dislike of Altman, emphasizing that all participants in the deal are “very, very smart people” and comparing Musk’s feelings to his own personal grudges.
“No, he hates one of the people,” Trump said, in an apparent reference to Altman.
“I’ve spoken to Elon, but — spoken to all of them, actually. The people in the deal are very, very smart people — but Elon, one of the people he happens to hate. But I have certain hatreds of people too.”
When asked about Musk’s criticism of the deal, Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, told Fox News that “the American people should take President Trump and those CEOs’ words for it,” and that “these investments are coming to our great country, and American jobs are coming along with them.”
Leavitt did not mention Musk by name.
Musk, the world’s richest man whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI, that is building its own big data center in Memphis, Tennessee.
Musk says it faces unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has supplied the huge computing resources needed to build AI systems such as ChatGPT.
Musk and Altman, once co-founders of OpenAI, have become fierce rivals, with Musk frequently criticizing Altman’s leadership and the company’s shift toward corporate interests, particularly its partnership with Microsoft.
Their tensions escalated further when Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, alleging that they abandoned the organization’s original nonprofit mission in favor of profit-driven motives, deepening the rift between the two tech leaders. A hearing is set for February in a California federal court.
Earlier this week, The Post reported that Ellison’s support of the Stargate project could help grease the wheels for the embattled merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
The merger faces a slew of hurdles as it looks to gain US regulatory approval. Paramount subsidiary CBS has been mired in controversy stemming from a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
With Post Wires
