Trump plans to back billions of dollars in AI infrastructure

Remember when Trump promised to lower the costs of eggs and gas? He’s currently threatening to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada so that, uh, probably won’t happen. The “good” news is that he’s also about to spend a ton of money on AI infrastructure that nobody asked for and will likely hasten the spread of deadly environmental disasters like the wildfires in California. So that’s fun!

CBS News first reported that the president is planning to announce billions in private sector investment to build AI facilities in the United States. Adding some names to our growing rolodex of tech overlords, OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle are expected to announce a joint venture called Stargate from the White House today. (The initiative presumably has no relation to the ’97 TV show of the same name.)

In their announcement, executives from the companies are expected to share that they’re committing $100 billion initially, with $500 billion poured into the initiative over the next few years. Stargate will start with a data center in Texas, before expanding into other cities. CBS also reports that other investors are expected to join the venture, but as of this writing, it’s not known which ones, nor is it clear how much taxpayer money Trump plans to pledge.

This is far from the only big swing Trump has taken in his first 48 hours behind the Resolute desk. He’s also signed a dizzying amount of executive orders concerning gender, the environment, the border, immigration, the Paris Climate Agreement, the World Health Organization, January 6 rioters, and pretty much every other hot-button issue you can imagine. He also rescinded an executive order from Biden that previously put up guardrails around AI development with an eye to consumer, worker, and national safety, per Reuters. But, you know, the eggs may get cheaper. (They probably won’t!)