Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman's Big AI Deal in the Middle East

Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the company in 2018 after a power struggle

- Dana Mattioli, Josh Dawsey & Eliot Brown

OpenAI led a group of American technology giants that won a deal last week to build one of the world's largest artificial-intelligence data centers in Abu Dhabi. Behind the scenes, Elon Musk worked hard to try to derail the deal if it didn't include his own AI startup, according to people familiar with the matter.

On a call with officials at G42, an AI firm controlled by the brother of the United Arab Emirates' president, Musk had a warning for those assembled: Their plan had no chance of President Trump signing off on it unless his company, xAI, was included in the deal, according to some of the people.

Musk had learned just before Trump's mid-May tour of three Gulf countries that OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman was going to be on the trip and that a deal in the U.A.E. was in the works, and grew angry about it, according to White House officials. He then said he would also join the trip, and appeared alongside the president in Saudi Arabia.

After Musk's complaints, Trump and U.S. officials reviewed the deal terms and decided to move forward. The White House officials said Musk didn't want a deal that seemed to benefit Altman. Aides discussed how to best calm Musk down, one of the officials said, because Trump and David Sacks, the president's AI and crypto adviser, wanted to announce the deal before the end of the president's trip to the Middle East.

Musk didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "This was another great deal for the American people, thanks to President Trump and his exceptional team."