Elon Musk's AI Rivalry with OpenAI Complicates Trump's Middle East AI Deal

Musk-Altman AI rivalry is complicating Trump's dealmaking in Middle East

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is seen through glass during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Feb. 11, 2025. Elon Musk tried to derail a major artificial intelligence infrastructure deal in the Middle East after learning that his startup, xAI, would be excluded from the initiative, CNBC has confirmed. Earlier this month, OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia, Cisco and Emirati firm G42 announced plans to build a sweeping Stargate AI campus in the United Arab Emirates. Musk was frustrated that OpenAI, led by personal rival Sam Altman, was tapped for the deal, and he intervened in an effort to get xAI involved, said a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named in order to speak freely. Musk argued that President Donald Trump would not approve the deal, the person said. The announcement was delayed by several days as stakeholders, including the White House, dealt with blowback from Musk, who has been engaged in a public and legal spat with Altman and OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Musk attempted to block the deal. In a statement to CNBC, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt didn't mention the dustup. "The United States and the UAE signed a groundbreaking framework agreement establishing the first AI acceleration partnership," Leavitt said. "The framework advances the buildout of AI infrastructure in the United States and the UAE. This was another great deal for the American people, thanks to President Trump and his exceptional team." Musk wasn't in the UAE when the deal was signed, but was with the president in Saudi Arabia during an earlier part of the Middle East trip, according to a senior White House official. The official said Musk has relayed his concerns about the government fairly treating all AI companies. OpenAI declined to comment. Musk didn't respond to CNBC's request for comment. Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is a complicating character in Trump's effort to solidify U.S. leadership in AI. Musk spent close to $300 million to send President Trump back to the White House, and has since been leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), slashing the size of the federal workforce. His time as a special government employee is coming to an end this month. When it comes to AI, Musk has in recent years been a vocal critic of Altman, a former friend and colleague. The pair helped form OpenAI as a research lab in 2015, but Musk later had a public break with the project and has consistently criticized its structure and close alliance with Microsoft. While xAI has been building its commercial efforts, acquiring Musk's social media company X in March and this week partnering with Telegram to roll out its Grok chatbot, Musk has been trying to thwart OpenAI's effort to convert into a for-profit entity. Musk has sued OpenAI for breach of contract and to try and stop the conversion, and a Musk-led investor group made an unsuccessful bid to buy control of the startup for $97.4 billion in February. It's also not the first time Musk has been critical of Stargate. In January, Trump unveiled the Stargate project, with OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank committing an initial $100 billion, and up to $500 billion, of investment in AI infrastructure in the U.S. over four years. Musk was quick to cast doubt on the financing behind the project. "They don't actually have the money," Musk wrote in response to an OpenAI post on his social platform X. He later added that SoftBank had "well under" $10 billion secured. Two months later, SoftBank led a $40 billion investment in OpenAI at a $300 billion valuation.

Elon Musk Pressured Trump Team To Include his xAI In The OpenAI-Oracle Abu Dhabi Deal, Threatening To Block It Otherwise: Report - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Oracle (NYSE:ORCL)

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc. TSLA and SpaceX, reportedly lobbied the Trump administration to include his AI startup, xAI, in a deal with Sam Altman's OpenAI to build a massive AI data center in Abu Dhabi. What Happened: Musk reportedly used his influence to ensure that his company was a part of the deal, which was led by OpenAI and involved several American tech giants. The deal, which was approved by the Trump administration, is set to establish one of the world's largest AI data centers in Abu Dhabi, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Musk's intervention came after he learned that OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, was planning a deal in the U.A.E. during President Donald Trump's visit to the Gulf countries. Musk, who was reportedly unhappy about the deal, joined the trip and voiced his concerns to Trump and U.S. officials. Musk reportedly warned executives at G42 -- an AI company overseen by the brother of the United Arab Emirates' president -- that their proposal would not receive President Trump's approval unless his own company, xAI, was part of the arrangement. Despite Musk's objections, the deal went through, with the White House officials stating that Musk was concerned about the deal favoring Altman. The U.A.E. had been lobbying for AI chips and, after the Biden administration restricted chip sales, the U.A.E. turned to the Trump administration. A senior White House official also confirmed that Musk had expressed concerns about the deal, emphasizing the importance of fairness for all AI companies. SEE ALSO: Hedera Co-Founder Predicts That 'Everything Of Value' Will Be Tokenized (CORRECTED) - Benzinga Why It Matters: This incident comes amid an ongoing legal battle between OpenAI and Musk. In a court filing, OpenAI accused Musk of fraud and media manipulation, urging a judge to allow its countersuit to proceed, as reported. Earlier this month, OpenAI announced that it would retain its nonprofit parent's control over its for-profit operations, reversing a previous plan to fully transition to a public benefit corporation. This decision was made amid increasing legal pressure and investor concerns. WSJ reported that previously, Musk had reacted angrily to Trump's January U.S. Stargate deal with OpenAI, Oracle ORCL and SoftBank, feeling blindsided by the $500 billion announcement. He questioned the backers' financial capacity and publicly criticized the deal on X. READ MORE: Tesla's Optimus May Be The First Humanoid Robot To Achieve High Volume And Tech Scale, Says Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: '... Likely To Be The Next Multi-Trillion Dollar Industry' Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors Photo courtesy: Shutterstock ORCLOracle Corp$162.90-%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum80.43Growth31.64QualityNot AvailableValue15.17Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewTSLATesla Inc$355.45-0.83%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs