Elon Musk trolls Trump’s $500B AI megaplan

By Seb Starcevic | 01/22/2025 01:02 PM EST

The tech billionaire and close ally of the president sniped at one of the White House’s first major proposals.

President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the White House as three men listen nearby.

President Donald Trump announces a $500 billion AI initiative as (from left) Masayoshi Son, SoftBank CEO; Larry Ellison, chair and chief technology officer of Oracle; and Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, listen Tuesday in the White House's Roosevelt Room. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Tech billionaire Elon Musk poured cold water Wednesday on a landmark half-trillion-dollar artificial intelligence initiative trumpeted by President Donald Trump.

His criticism marks an early break between Musk, one of Trump’s closest advisers during the presidential transition, and the Republican leader, underscoring the potential for rifts on key policy issues in Trump’s broad coalition.

Trump announced Tuesday that several technology giants, including OpenAI, Oracle and MGX, plus Japanese investment company SoftBank, would invest about $500 billion in building data centers in the U.S. over four years. He touted the project, known as Stargate, as “the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history.”

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“It’s big money and high-quality people,” Trump said, calling the initiative “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” at the start of his new administration.

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