Stargate was a 1994 science fiction film about travellers zooming through a wormhole to an alternative reality. That seems an appropriate name, too, for the massive artificial intelligence infrastructure project promising to invest as much as $500bn in the US over the next four years, announced by President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening. Backed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank, Stargate reflects the alternative reality created by the fusion of the AI superbubble and Trump’s re-election. Washington, it seems, is disappearing down its own wormhole.
“This monumental undertaking is a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential under a new president,” Trump said of Stargate. Standing stiffly in their suits alongside Trump in the White House, Larry Ellison, Oracle’s 80-year-old co-founder, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s vauntingly ambitious chief executive, and Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s mercurial chair, all beamed with pleasure, like the personifications of old tech, new tech and global tech.
“This is the beginning of a golden age,” Son said, playing back Trump’s remarks in his inauguration address. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr President,” gushed Altman. The prominent presence of several other tech billionaires at Trump’s inauguration also highlighted how much they are in thrall to the US president.