According to Caixin, on February 8 (edited by Shi Zhengcheng), after spending over $0.2 billion to help Trump reclaim the presidential position, the world's richest man, Musk, has naturally become 'the most powerful businessman in the USA.' Meanwhile, Musk's long-time rival Altman surprisingly appeared at the White House, taking a central role in influencing AI policy.

The latest revelations from the weekend show that this former YC president and tech pioneer who spearheaded the AI wave is also quite flexible and intuitive in politics.

From backup room to political center.

From Altman's identity labels, he seems more like a disappointment under the 'Trump 2.0 government'—the 39-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur has long donated money to the Democratic Party while continually criticizing Trump. Due to the internal strife at OpenAI, Altman has completely fallen out with Trump's close associate Musk, and the two are still in a legal battle.

So at the presidential inauguration on January 20, Musk was able to sit at the most prominent position with a group of tech tycoons, while Altman, who also donated 'his share', went to the Capitol but could only wait in the backup room to watch the live broadcast.

However, just one day later, Altman stood alongside Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, alongside Son Masayoshi and Larry Ellison, to announce the 'Stargate' project which could reach up to $500 billion.

Seeing the AI agenda of the Trump administration being seized by Altman, Musk angrily publicly criticized, 'Does SoftBank really have that much money?' To this, Trump calmly disagreed with Musk's doubts, bluntly stating that he just 'hated one of them (Altman).'

According to local media reports citing more than a dozen knowledgeable sources, although it had never attracted attention before, Altman quietly entered Trump's inner circle before last year's election. The relationship between OpenAI and Trump is much closer than the outside perception.

Regarding the latest reports, an OpenAI spokesperson stated that the company looks forward to collaborating with President Trump to ensure that AI 'drives economic growth and fosters scientific discovery, benefiting as many people as possible.'

Key Figures

It is reported that Altman connected with Trump through his fellow townsman, then North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (who has now been approved to serve as Trump's Secretary of the Interior). At the same time, Masayoshi Son, Larry Ellison, and Trump also have close ties and contributed during this process.

At the same time, Altman's close relationship with the Biden administration has also helped him become a 'familiar face' in the USA political circle, allowing him to meet regularly with legislators from both parties.

Most importantly, as the 2024 election approaches, Altman has begun to question Biden's ability to win. He has started donating to Republican campaign organizations and is scheduled to communicate with Republican legislators.

According to informed sources, as early as last June, two OpenAI executives met with Trump in a hotel room in Las Vegas, facilitated by Burgum. Altman was originally scheduled to attend but was absent due to a positive COVID test.

At that meeting, OpenAI President Brockman and Chief Operating Officer Altman presented the video generation tool Sora to Trump. They emphasized the importance of Electrical Utilities and computational infrastructure using language that real estate developers could understand.

At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump, having just escaped an assassination attempt, spoke confidently: "AI requires massive — literally twice the Electrical Utilities available in our country, can you imagine?"

As a symbol of Altman's political opportunity, the fate of the "Stargate" project has dramatically changed over the past year.

In fact, as early as last year's internal turmoil at OpenAI, Microsoft was already discussing investment in this project with OpenAI. Although Altman quickly returned to his position, Nadella was uneasy about the turmoil at OpenAI and halted the investment. Therefore, Altman needed to find other ways to advance this project.

After Microsoft withdrew, Altman had been in discussions with Son Masayoshi and Larry Ellison regarding computing power investments. With Trump's election, the sentiment around this Trade quickly changed, and SoftBank, Oracle, and OpenAI each agreed to invest in "Stargate," with the UAE's MGX also coming on board.

As the inauguration ceremony approached, leading figures in the AI field, including Musk and Zuckerberg, visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump, working on building relationships while also disparaging OpenAI. Until that moment, the best Altman could arrange was a meeting with Lutnik, who was nominated for Secretary of Commerce.

Insiders revealed that the ultimate turning point occurred on the last Friday before Trump's inauguration. Arranged by a "mutual acquaintance," Altman had a 25-minute phone call with Trump, and the "hundred billion dollar mega project" successfully appealed to Trump's love for grand narratives and big deals, catapulting it into the core of the AI policy of the "Trump 2.0 government."

It is reported that Altman specially planned to announce the already prepared Stargate project after Trump's inauguration so that the new president could take credit for it and gain greater political support.

However, with the emergence of DeepSeek, this story is shifting from an "exclamation point" to a "question mark." Many commentators are beginning to question whether such a massive investment like Stargate is still wise.

In the face of turmoil in the financial markets, Altman flew to Washington last Wednesday to dine with Republican lawmakers and held a private lobbying event the following day.

When asked what DeepSeek's $100 billion investment project meant, Altman corrected it to "$500 billion" and stated that as companies like OpenAI continuously increase computational resources, AI technology is also continuously improving. He said, "We should hope to continue doing this."

Editor/ping