Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman: As Trump backs OpenAI’s Stargate project, Musk criticizes and calls him a liar
Elon Musk is drawing criticism as US President Donald Trump supports Sam Altman’s latest initiative, the Stargate Project. In a series of posts about the OpenAI CEO, Musk has called him a liar, claimed his new company lacks funding, and more. Here’s the whole drama between Elon Musk and Sam Altman.
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Elon Musk is angry. He has started the fight again with Sam Altman, and this time the trigger is OpenAI’s Stargate project. What makes things worse is that the AI project has the support of Musk’s new favourite, US President Donald Trump. Musk’s new attack is full of allegations and screenshots of old tweets. Things seem to be taking a personal turn as he has (once again) publicly accused Altman of playing games with a money-making agenda, much to the chagrin that Musk and Altman once championed for open-source, non-profit AI. This is contrary to the shared view. Organization.
there is more. At the center of the feud is Musk’s complaint about Altman’s alleged $10 billion demand, equivalent to a 7 percent stake in the new Stargate project. Musk says this comes after Altman testified to Congress that he will not take any compensation or payment from OpenAI. Trump is unhappy that Altman is now looking to make money by setting up a new AI company.
Not surprisingly, it’s not as if Musk is being completely impartial here. Their own AI company, called xAI, is a direct competitor to OpenAI and is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the company. Musk and his AI company have accused OpenAI of anti-competitive behavior and discouraging investors from putting money into its rival companies.
And it gets better: Just as OpenAI requires AI infrastructure – which is where the Stargate Project steps in to advance its AI system, Musk’s XAI requires the same support. xAI has reportedly spent around $12 billion on a single AI data center. But Donald Trump’s support for the $500 billion Stargate project has added fuel to the fire.
Musk has accused Altman of being a “liar” for demanding $10 billion from his new company after testifying that he did not receive compensation from OpenAI. He also suggested in a post on X that Altman’s new initiative lacks adequate funding. “They actually have no money,” he wrote in a post responding to OpenAI’s announcement of the Stargate project. “SoftBank has reserved less than $10B. “I have it on good authority,” Musk said. Altman’s new initiative is led by OpenAI and SoftBank, which is responsible for managing the financial aspect of things.
Altman quickly responded to Musk’s claims. “False, as you surely know,” the OpenAI CEO wrote, refuting Musk’s allegations. “Do you want to come to the first site that is already running? This is very good for the country. I realize that what’s good for the country is not always optimal for your companies, but I hope that in your new role you will mostly put (America) first,” Altman’s post on X read.
Elon Musk is leading a newly formed US advisory commission, called the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with proposing ways to make federal agencies more efficient. The DOGE Commission was first announced last year and was made more official with an executive order signed by the new US President as soon as Trump was officially sworn in on Monday.
Musk is now digging through Altman’s old tweets, some of which show him writing about preventing Trump from being re-elected as US President.
Musk also shared posts on Ax accusing Altman of “funding Axios, which pushes against Trump and anti-American propaganda”.
In response to the allegations of being anti-Trump, Sam Altman also responded by saying that his perspective regarding the new President of America has indeed changed.
In a separate post, Altman also said he thinks Musk is “not a good person”. His post read, “I don’t think he’s a good person or treats us fairly, but you have to respect the man and he inspires us all to be more ambitious.”
The Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman drama has been going on for years, and it doesn’t seem anywhere close to ending any time soon – mainly because what started as a debate over the original mission of OpenAI has now turned into a super-publicized Gone is the clash of egos and ambitions, and OpenAI’s new Stargate project is the latest hot button.
