US President Trump gestures as Open AI CEO Sam Altman speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Before he officially became president… Donald Trump CNBC has learned that he had a lengthy conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday to discuss the potential of artificial intelligence and the need to develop the technology in the United States.
During the conversation, Trump was particularly enthusiastic about building artificial intelligence here rather than developing it in China, what that could mean for job creation and a sign of U.S. confidence in his administration, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked. Not mentioning his name because the conversation was private.
After Trump's inauguration on Monday, the president quickly began touting the importance of artificial intelligence. A joint venture was announced on Tuesday with… OpenAI, oracle and Softbank To invest billions of dollars in it Amnesty International US OpenAI's infrastructure involvement is notable because Altman is in the midst of a heated legal battle with… Tesla CEO Elon MuskTrump's largest financial backer in the 2024 campaign and an advisor who previously co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a non-profit organization.
Musk Undercut quickly The newly announced project, dubbed Stargate, wrote in a post on X that they “literally have no money” to back their $500 billion investment pledge. He added that he knew “pretty well” that SoftBank “got less than $10 billion.”
Altman responded on Wednesday morning, writing on X that although Musk is “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” his claims are “false, as you certainly know.” Microsoft “All I know is I'm good for $80 billion,” CEO Satya Nadella said in an interview on CNBC, referring to his company's plans to invest in AI-enabled data centers this year. Microsoft is the main financial backer of OpenAI.
Musk, who leads Trump's new Government Efficiency Advisory Council, is Sue OpenAI To try to prevent it from turning into a profit entity. The two sides have quarreled in court filings and in public. In a Blog post In December, OpenAI wrote that in 2017, Musk “not only wanted to, but actually created, a for-profit organization” to serve as the company’s proposed new structure. OpenAI posted screenshots of emails from Musk to support its claims.
While Altman's relationship with Musk has soured, the OpenAI CEO still has ties to the Oracle CEO Larry EllisonHe is a major Trump supporter, which helped his standing with the president's team, the source said. Oracle and OpenAI partnered on cloud computing in June.
Another source said Altman also has a close relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Son publicly pledged $100 billion to invest in the US before the Stargate announcement, and Softbank has also backed OpenAI.
He watches: President Trump talks about investing in AI infrastructure