The Rise of Tech Titans in Washington
A New Era of Influence
When I drove around Silicon Valley in 2017, talking to tech giants for a magazine piece, trying to figure out if A.I. would be friend or foe, Washington barely seemed to be on their radar. As far as they were concerned, they were the nation’s capital. In D.C., pols merely passed laws. In Silicon Valley, techies were creating a new species, trying to conjure a nonhuman sentient mind.
The Tech Elite
Some tech titans were buoyant about the future. Some were wary. Elon Musk warned we might be "summoning the demon." Silicon Valley was run by a bunch of boys with toys. Brilliant, quirky young engineers trying to get more toys than the others, better rockets or self-driving cars or robots. They were developing a monopoly on Americans’ attention, learning how to ratchet up the algorithms to create division, distrust, and envy, siloing people and spreading angst – all under the innocent guise of connecting us and making our lives better.
The Tech Moguls’ New Toy: the American President
Within their own elite circle, the tech billionaires were volatile – sometimes friendly, sometimes feuding, sometimes, in the case of Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, threatening cage matches, sometimes, in the case of Musk, selling off his houses and sleeping on friends’ couches. They were the richest, most potent men in the world, with a visceral high school vibe. They were the bitchiest, weirdest mathletes in history.
The Tech Community’s Fascination with the American President
Eventually, the digerati gazed east and discovered a fascinating new toy they could fight over: the American president. Suddenly, Democratic Silicon Valley is Trump country. The moment crystallized when Zuckerberg – fed up with Democrats’ sermonizing about his company’s failure to shut down misinformation in 2016 – bought a yacht, put on a gold necklace, and got a streetwear makeover, declared that Donald Trump’s response to the assassination attempt was "one of the most bad-ass things I’ve ever seen in my life," and ended fact-checking at Meta.
The Tech Moguls’ Quest for Power
Wow, the tech moguls thought: This could be cool, to not only control all communications and manipulate all emotions in the country, but to reprogram the government’s regulatory engine so it runs like they want it to! Just give some puny millions to Trump’s campaign and inauguration, throw some flattery at the unquenchable maw of Trump’s ego, and you were suddenly at his elbow onstage in the Capitol when he swept back into power.
The Trump-Elon Bromance
Trump is a 78-year-old Luddite who has a beautiful young woman nicknamed the "human printer" following him around with a petite printer in her backpack. She cranks out positive stories to show him and takes dictation for his social media posts. He still prefers a Sharpie to a keyboard. Yet, suddenly he’s the savior of TikTok teens and crypto bros. King Donald’s court is filled with the lords of the cloud, courtiers who are bringing their chaos and drama to a Trump orbit brimming with chaos and drama.
The Rise of Stargate
It’s a remarkable spectacle watching an entirely new power center flock to Washington, fight for Trump’s attention, jockey to prove their loyalty, post groveling encomiums to Trump, throw money at him, clamor for eight-figure mansions around town. The returning president wasted no time putting the cat among the pigeons when he held a news conference announcing a joint venture among OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle called "Stargate" to generate about $100 billion in computing infrastructure for A.I., with a goal to invest $500 billion by the end of Trump’s term.
The Bromance Crisis
The president, savoring his new image as a champion of Silicon Valley in its bid to beat out China on A.I., showcased Altman at the White House, even though he knows Altman and Musk – who co-founded OpenAI – are in a legal feud. Elon has accused his former pal, Sam, of deserting their original mission when he changed its nonprofit status to for-profit; Altman allies think Musk is just jealous that the young, ragtag crew working in a makeshift office blasted off a few years after he left, ultimately creating ChatGPT.
Conclusion
The colliding egos of Silicon Valley have joined the colliding egos on the Potomac, but the president is not perturbed. Mixing it up, stirring conflict for its own sake, this is just how Donald Trump has fun.
FAQs
Q: What is Stargate?
A: Stargate is a joint venture among OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to generate about $100 billion in computing infrastructure for A.I., with a goal to invest $500 billion by the end of Trump’s term.
Q: What is the goal of Stargate?
A: The goal of Stargate is to generate about $100 billion in computing infrastructure for A.I. and to invest $500 billion by the end of Trump’s term.
Q: Who are the main players involved in Stargate?
A: The main players involved in Stargate are OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle.
Q: What is the significance of Stargate?
A: Stargate is significant because it marks the beginning of a new era of influence for Silicon Valley in Washington, as tech moguls like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg align themselves with the Trump administration to shape the future of A.I. and technology.
