Trump had a phone call with OpenAI’s Sam Altman last week

Before officially becoming president, Donald Trump spoke with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday about the potential of artificial intelligence and the need to grow the technology in the US, CNBC has learned.

During the debate, Trump made an animated pitch about building here instead of growing in China, and what that means for job creation and a sign of American confidence in his administration, according to a person familiar with the matter. The conversation was private so he can’t be named.

Following Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the president quickly jumped to work on the importance of AI. OpenAI’s involvement in the US announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure as Altman is embroiled in a heated legal battle. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a top financial backer of Trump’s 2024 campaign and previously launched OpenAI in 2014 A consultant who founded a non-profit organization in 2015.

Musk quickly dismissed the newly announced project, Stargate, saying they “really don’t have the money” in a post on X to support their pledge to invest $500 billion. SoftBank says it knows “on good authority” that it’s “safe under $10B.”

Altman responded on Wednesday morning, writing on X that while Musk is “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” his claims are “false as you surely know.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an interview on CNBC, “All I know is that I’m good for $80 billion,” referring to his company’s plans to invest in AI-enabled data centers this year. Microsoft is the main funder of OpenAI.

Musk, who is chairing Trump’s new Government Efficiency Advisory Board, has accused OpenAI of trying to keep it from turning into a for-profit entity. The two sides have been spared in the court case and in front of the public. In a blog post in December 2017, Musk wrote that OpenAI is “not only desirable, but a for-profit organization” to serve as the company’s planned new structure. Open AI has published screenshots of emails from the field to support its claims.

While Altman’s relationship with Mack has soured, the OpenAI CEO still has ties to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, a major Trump supporter, which has helped his standing with the president’s team, the source said. Oracle and OpenAI formed a cloud computing partnership in June.

Altman has a close relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, another source said. Son publicly pledged $100 billion to invest in the US before Stargate’s announcement, and Softbank backs OpenAI.

See: President Trump talks about investment in AI infrastructure