Stargate: Artificial Superintelligence in 4 Years?
The dawn of a new golden age?
The $500 billion Stargate artificial intelligence project was officially announced by President Donald Trump at a press conference yesterday. Standing with him were the project's chief backers: Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, the Japanese investment holding company focusing on technology companies; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, one the world's leading artificial intelligence companies; and Larry Ellison, executive chairman of software giant Oracle.
The announcement came the day after Trump issued an executive order rescinding Joe Biden's October 2023 executive order that would have significantly impeded the development of AI technologies.
According to OpenAI's press release outlining the Stargate project, the partners will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. The key technology partners are Arm Holdings, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI. Initial funding will be supplied by Softbank, OpenAI, Oracle, and the MGX AI investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates. Starting with a gigantic data center currently under construction in Abilene, Texas, the ultimate goal is to build as many as 20 AI data centers scattered around the country over the next four years.
"Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI," declared President Trump. He further suggested, "I think it's going to be something that's very special. It'll lead to something that could be the biggest of all." How special? How about the development of artificial superintelligence?
"I think AGI is coming very, very soon," said Son. Artificial general intelligence (AGI) are systems capable of performing any intellectual task that a human can. But Son didn't stop with just the advent of human-level capabilities. "After that, artificial superintelligence will come to solve the issues that mankind would never, ever have thought that we could solve. Well, this is the beginning of our golden age," he observed.
"I'm thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America," added Altman. "I think this will be the most important project of this era, and, as Masa said, for AGI to get built here, to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, to create a new industry centered here."
Participants specifically highlighted the prospect that the Stargate project will accelerate vast improvements in medicine and health care. AI will make it possible for clinicians anywhere to access instantly the best and latest information for diagnosing and treating any disease, noted Ellison. "As this technology progresses, we will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate," further asserted Altman. "We will be amazed at how quickly we're curing this cancer and that one and heart disease."
Back in September, Altman speculated, "It is possible that we will have superintelligence in a few thousand days (!); it may take longer, but I'm confident we'll get there." (Four years is 1,460 days.) Altman continued, "I believe the future is going to be so bright that no one can do it justice by trying to write about it now; a defining characteristic of the Intelligence Age will be massive prosperity."
Meanwhile, rival AI developer Elon Musk (and head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency) claims on X that the backers of Stargate Project don't actually have on hand the billions they claim they will invest. Here's hoping that Stargate will not turn out to be AI vaporware but will instead usher in the promised new golden age.
