Trump AI project presents Musk with early test of loyalty

Elon Musk’s criticism of an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project backed by President Trump is presenting an early test of how the SpaceX CEO will balance his personal conflicts in the technology space with the interests of the president.

Musk, a fierce Trump ally, appeared to break from the president less than two days after he was sworn back into office when he poured cold water over the new Stargate venture, which involves his business partner-turned rival, OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman.

“He is letting this issue [with OpenAI] get in the way of his relationship with Trump. I mean, the president scheduled a big event to announce this and clearly thinks it’s great news for the United States to see all this investment,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution.

The president said Thursday he's unbothered by Musk’s public criticism, and alluded to the years of tensions between his close advisor and Altman.

“No, it doesn’t. He hates one of the people in the deal,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if Musk’s criticism bothered him.

“I’ve spoken to Elon. I’ve spoken to all of them, actually. The people in the deal are very, very smart people,” Trump continued. “But Elon, one of the people in the deal he happens to hate, but I have certain hatreds of people too.”

While Trump shrugged off the defection Thursday, some observers said Musk continuing to publicly disagree may not bode well for him, given the president’s history with those who disagree with his policies.

“One thing that we do know is that Trump does not like to be undermined or overshadowed by anybody around him. So, my sense is that that may work for Musk in the short term, but not in the long term,” political strategist Basil Smikle told The Hill.

The Stargate project was announced by Trump alongside Altman, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son this week. It pledges to invest up to $500 billion in building the infrastructure for AI development and maintenance over the next four years.

Musk claimed the initial investors — OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle — do not have the money to come up with the project, sparking an online back-and-forth over the promises lauded by Trump.

The back-and-forth between Musk and Altman began after the Tesla CEO wrote on X on Wednesday the initial investors “don’t actually have the money” to fund the project. He later added, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured.”

Altman initially responded with praise for Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with him in 2015, but followed it up with pushback less than an hour later.

“[W]rong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this 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 [the U.S.] first,” Altman wrote.

Musk then fired off a series of posts slamming Altman and OpenAI’s plans to turn itself into a for-profit business.

An original co-founder of OpenAI, Musk has filed a lawsuit against the company, Altman and Greg Brockman, another OpenAI co-founder, alleging the ChatGPT maker drifted from its roots as a nonprofit research lab to pursue profits over benefiting the public good. A hearing is set for February on the matter.

Musk was among Trump's earliest and most passionate supporters from Silicon Valley. He endorsed Trump's reelection bid the day the president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., and followed up with close to $250 million in donations toward pro-Trump super PACs.

Other leading technology leaders, including Altman, took notice. Altman donated $1 million in personal cash to Trump’s inaugural committee, what he called a sign of faith in the president's ability to advance AI in the U.S.

“This presents an ongoing internal battle for both Trump’s ear, but also the interests of a lot of these business leaders who want to be able to get contracts or profit in some way from their relationship with Trump,” Smikle said.

“Because the stakes are very high, because these are people who are used to dealing with tremendous amounts of money and making large deals, one could imagine that there’s going to be a lot of tension for Trump’s attention in both the short and long term,” he added.

In his barrage of posts, Musk also slammed OpenAI’s new partnership with Axios and jabbed at Altman’s shift in support, reposting users who resurfaced the OpenAI leader’s comments.

In one resurfaced comment from 2016, Altman said, “Back to work tomorrow on a new project to stop Trump,” while another post from 2021 praised LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman for his donations to President Biden in his 2020 race against Trump.

Altman did not respond to most of Musk’s posts but did explain his sudden shift on Trump, whom he previously criticized during past elections.

“[W]atching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him (i wish i had done more of my own thinking and definitely fell in the npc trap),” Altman wrote Wednesday. “i’m not going to agree with him on everything, but i think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!”

Altman followed up with an apparent shot at Musk on Thursday, writing, “just one more mean tweet and then maybe you’ll love yourself…”

Musk, for his part, did not always support Trump. In 2015, he told Vanity Fair he hoped Trump would not get the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, saying “that wouldn’t be good.”

Musk also stepped down from White House advisory councils after Trump pulled the U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord, and had previously criticized Trump's executive order banning immigration from several majority-Muslim countries.

One Republican strategist with ties to Trump’s orbit argued Musk is in a stronger position with Trump than those he’s sparring with because he donated millions to the president’s campaign and backed Trump months before other tech industry titans started to fall in line.

Smikle agreed, saying there might be a “sort of preferred status” that Musk now holds in Trump world.

It comes as the tech billionaire is expected to work closely with the Trump administration over the next four years as the leader of the president’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) advisory panel.

DOGE is focused on cutting government spending and regulations, but is not an official government agency.

But there are also signs Musk’s role in the administration and his outsized public persona are rubbing some Trump allies in the wrong way.

Musk clashed with Vivek Ramaswamy over the direction of DOGE before Ramaswamy exited his role to pursue a campaign for governor in Ohio.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Bill McGinley, who was tapped by Trump to serve as DOGE’s top lawyer, is already returning to the private sector.

And twice this week, Musk has caused Trump unwanted headlines, first with a controversial gesture that drew Nazi comparisons and later with his spat with Altman.

One Trump donor predicted the Trump-Musk relationship "will end in flames."

"Musk won't be able to dominate Trump and keep other tech billionaires on the sidelines," the donor said.

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