Sources: Elon Musk tried to derail OpenAI's Abu Dhabi deal, telling G42 officials that there was no chance of Trump signing off on it unless xAI was included
his lieutenants are running DOGE still, his X feed can upend the Republican agenda, and Trump world is still waiting on promised donations www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/u... @thefarce.org : This feels very “Sources close to Jared and Ivanka say the couple would everyone to not blame them” Lee West / @whodat35 : Sorry, I don't believe this for a minute. Musk is trying to distance himself because his government contract takeover was corrupt and illegal and he has major exposure with #DOGE actions which are all getting struck down in court. Plus, his credibility is toast. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/u... Corey Quinn / @quinnypig.com : If the dude spent half as much time on his own companies as he does worrying about OpenAI, Tesla would be in a far better place. [embedded post] Ed Zitron / @edzitron.com : First time I actually believe there's any kind of rift between Trump and Musk. Musk tried to stop the OpenAI-UAE data center play and they just ignored him lol [embedded post] X: @gc22gc : Musk was angry about OpenAI getting a UAE deal, demanded xAI be included, showed up to back his demands, but the White House kept the project moving regardless. https://www.wsj.com/... [image] Forums: Hacker News : Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman's Big AI Deal in the Middle East r/musked : A Disillusioned Musk, Distanced From Trump, Says He's Exiting Washington r/politics : A Disillusioned Musk, Distanced From Trump, Says He's Exiting Washington r/OpenAI : Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman's Big AI Deal in the Middle East r/Destiny : Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman's Big AI Deal in the Middle East
Context & Ripple Effects
The report places OpenAI’s Abu Dhabi partnership in a contest over political access as well as AI capability. It follows reporting that Trump and Sam Altman had discussed keeping AI development in the US in a conversation on AI’s strategic importance.
It also lands amid signs that Musk’s relationship with Trump was weakening, a shift covered in accounts of strains in the Musk–Trump alliance. That makes any perceived ability to condition a deal on xAI’s participation especially consequential—and uncertain.
First-order effects
- G42 and OpenAI face immediate execution uncertainty around the reported deal if counterparties believe US political approval could be tied to xAI’s inclusion.
- xAI is positioned, in the reported intervention, as a potential participant in a strategically valuable overseas AI arrangement rather than solely a competing lab.
Second-order effects
- Foreign AI partners may demand clearer assurances on US policy treatment before committing to arrangements involving leading US labs, raising transaction and timing risk.
- Rival labs have greater incentive to cultivate government relationships alongside commercial partnerships, particularly where cross-border model access or infrastructure is involved.
Third-order effects
- If political access repeatedly shapes which labs can participate in international AI projects, frontier-AI competition could increasingly be decided through state-mediated dealmaking rather than product competition alone.
- The episode points to a more fragile model of cross-border AI cooperation: partnerships may need to accommodate shifting domestic political coalitions as well as technical, capital, and security constraints.
The trend: Frontier AI partnerships are becoming tests of state compatibility, with geopolitical approval and political relationships increasingly affecting access to overseas markets and infrastructure.