The Money Count

 

"The Money Count" is a reoccurring feature, as outrage and/or hilarity demand.

Tech executives have rushed to show their support for Trump in hopes of currying favor and shielding themselves from regulatory retaliation. They have donated millions to his campaign and inauguration.

In addition to media mogul Musk (who's given at least $250 million to Trump), OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, attended the inauguration, along with the CEOs of Google, Apple. and Meta. 

The day after Inauguration, Trump had Sam Altman by his side again, along with the chiefs of SoftBank and Oracle, to announce a joint venture calling itself "Stargate" between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle to create at least $100 billion in computing infrastructure to power artificial intelligence. Some 10 enormous data centers are already under construction in Texas.

During a news briefing Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he would remove barriers to allow for the creation of more data centers. He said he would make “emergency declarations” to allow Stargate to generate its own electricity, without providing details. (NYTimes)

"Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s largest investor, provided data center infrastructure needed to power the start-up. But as the ChatGPT maker struggled to get enough computer power from Microsoft, the two companies agreed that OpenAI could seek additional data centers built by Oracle."

Why would Trump be so hot for AI? Are you kidding? What is more appealing to a con-man than total fake reality? Even more pertinent, think of the "reality" that Trump's beholden tech billionaires can dish out to the MAGA crowd and to everyone else.