OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar explains how AI is taking center stage at Davos, what Project Stargate means for the macroeconomy, and details new products for key customers.
OpenAI’s CFO is setting the record straight on the funding situation for President Donald Trump’s groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) project.
“I’m close to this deal, I’ve been working on it. If I look tired, this deal does it for me. And I feel really good about where we are,” Sarah Friar said in a press release. “Mornings with Maria” interview Thursday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I think about Elon, look, he’s a competitor,” she added, “but I want us to compete for the right things.”
On Tuesday, President Trump announced a massive $500 billion infrastructure project called Stargate. Big names like Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle plan to join forces to build data centers in the United States to further the development of AI, which promises to increase productivity through work automation.
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The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that amount. Microsoft, NVIDIA, investor MGX and chipmaker Arm are also partners in the project.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar defends the company’s position that it has the financial backing to fund the Stargate AI project. (Getty Images)
But Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX – and now co-chair of the Department of Government Effectiveness – has gone into X. express doubts on OpenAI’s ability to financially support Stargate.
“They don’t really have any money,” Musk posted on X in response to an OpenAI article touting Stargate. “SoftBank has secured well under $10 billion. I have that on good authority.”
Supporting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s claim that Musk is “wrong,” Friar also encouraged Musk to support Trump’s AI plans despite the fractured Musk-Altman relationship.
President Trump makes major infrastructure announcement on his second day in office.
“Let’s compete to get great outcomes for consumers and businesses. Let’s compete to attract investment and jobs to the United States and also to our allies. And let’s compete to make sure we also get the right outcomes from a security,” the statement said. » said the CFO on Thursday.
“And Elon knows it,” Friar insisted, “because at the end of the day, we’re just the tip of the iceberg here. We’re just scratching the surface of what’s to come. We’re at the “AI era. And so we’re caught in distractions among ourselves. I just feel like it’s going to slow down the bigger outcome that we’re all looking for.”
A source close to Stargate told FOX Business that Stargate was ready to deploy the $100 billion immediately and that the companies participating in the venture were well positioned to make the investments.
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Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Brian Schimpf, Co-Founder and CEO of Anduril Industries, discuss the future of AI and the ethical use of technology on “Making Money “.
Trying to ease any tension, Friar argued that Musk agreed with OpenAI on three fundamental needs of the industry: “extraordinary people” and the power of computers and data.
“That’s why being mission-driven is incredibly important to us, right?” » posited the financial director. “We want to make sure we have access to all of that, and we will continue to run the business in the way that we think is best to achieve that outcome.”
Michael Dorgan of FOX Business contributed to this report.
