President Trump on Tuesday announced an investment worth billions of dollars from the private sector to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States.
OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle are considering a joint venture called Stargate, Trump said at a White House news conference.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son was on hand alongside Mr. Trump for the announcement, along with OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison.
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“What we want to do is keep this technology in our country,” Mr. Trump said. “China is a competitor, other countries are also in the running. We want it to happen here, and we make it easy. I’m going to help through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency, we need to build this. They have to produce a lot of electricity. We’re going to make it easy for them to accomplish this, in their own factories if they want.”
Company executives pledge to invest $500 billion in Stargate over the next four years. Details of this new partnership were not immediately specified.
At the conference, Ellison announced that ten data centers for the project were already under construction in Texas, with more planned. Sources previously told CBS News that Stargate would begin with a data center project in Texas and eventually expand to other states.
“AI offers incredible promise for everyone, for every American,” Ellison told reporters.
-Mr. Trump said the initiative would create “more than 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”
Sam Altman added: “I think this will be the most important project of this era.”
All three leaders discussed their belief that AI could solve health problems.
“I believe that as this technology advances, we will see diseases cured at an unprecedented rate,” Altman said.
Other investors are expected to join the initiative, although it is not clear which ones at this time.
The creation of this alliance marks an important turning point in the race for technological innovation. How could this initiative influence the economic and technological landscape of the United States in the years to come? The implications for employment and public health also merit careful observation.
