Musk vs. Altman (and Trump): Anatomy of a feud
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The Elon Musk-Sam Altman feud entered a new hot phase this week on X following President Trump's announcement of Stargate, a new $500 billion AI infrastructure joint venture funded in part by OpenAI, the AI giant Altman leads.
Why it matters: Musk's public questioning of the financial strength of a venture that Trump had just blessed from the White House marked the first public sign that the "First Buddy's" relationship with the president might be turning rocky.
Driving the news: Trump, joined by Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, announced at a White House briefing on Tuesday that Stargate "will invest at least $500 billion" in AI infrastructure in the U.S. by 2029 and create "over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately."
- The initial investment of $100 billion will be used to construct AI data centers, starting in Texas, with plans to expand to other states.
Hours after the announcement, Musk cast doubt on the ambitious Stargate project, claiming lead investor SoftBank Group has "well under $10B secured."
- "They don't actually have the money," Musk wrote on X. "SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority," he added.
- Musk also attacked Altman personally as a "swindler" and a "liar."
Altman countered Musk's claims about the project, replying, "wrong, as you surely know," and suggested he was more worried about his personal ambitions than the national interest.
- Altman also stated that he doesn't think Musk is a "nice person or treating us fairly but you have to respect the guy and he pushes all of us to be more ambitious."
- He later posted on X, seemingly alluding to Musk: "just one more mean tweet and then maybe you'll love yourself."
What they're saying: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that "the American people should take President Trump and those CEOs' words for it."
- "I don't know if they do, but you know they're putting up the money," Trump said Thursday, responding to a reporter's question about whether he was bothered by Musk's public criticism of the investment commitment.
Between the lines: Musk has been at odds with Altman ever since the two had a falling-out over the destiny of OpenAI in 2018.
- Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in August, alleging that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman abandoned the company's founding agreement as a nonprofit by prioritizing business growth over the public interest.
- Musk has also founded a rival AI firm, xAI, so the feud is grounded in commercial rivalry as well as apparent personal animosity.
Our thought bubble: Musk and Altman have long been very public enemies, so it's hardly surprising that Trump's offering a White House spotlight to Altman on day two of his administration might miff Musk.
- "Elon, one of the people he happens to hate," Trump told the press. "But I have certain hatreds of people too."
- Trump is shrugging it off for now, but both Trump- and Musk-watchers have long assumed that neither of these billionaires will be able to share a spotlight for that long.
