It’s Altman vs. Musk yet again.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the recent bout of attention he’s received from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk must mean his company is doing good work.
“There are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 sol is the best model in the world right now,” Altman wrote on X on Saturday, referring to his company’s latest model. “But the most reliable way to tell is that elon is obsessed with me again.”
Musk turned his attention back to Altman after Apple filed a bombshell lawsuit on Friday, accusing OpenAI, its hardware partner io, and two former Apple employees of stealing trade secrets. OpenAI acquired io, a design firm run by Jony Ive, the legendary former Apple designer, last year as it makes a push into consumer AI hardware.
In a brief statement in response to the lawsuit, OpenAI said it has “no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.”
It’s just the kind of thing to capture Musk’s attention, who spent part of his weekend roasting the OpenAI CEO, whom he repeatedly called “Scam Altman.”
In response, Altman argued that Musk was also a scammer. “Homeboy you’re the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” Altman wrote.
Musk replied that SpaceX would begin “flying them” next year — which seems ambitious, though the multi-company CEO is famous for missing self-imposed deadlines — and joked that Altman could visit if his “parole officer” allowed it.
Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI in 2015, but their relationship later fractured over control, funding, and the company’s direction. They’ve been at each other’s throats ever since.
In 2024, Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, accusing them of deceiving him out of early charitable contributions by eventually operating OpenAI as a for-profit venture. OpenAI had originally been a nonprofit. A federal jury ruled against Musk in May. Musk said he planned to appeal.
Musk founded rival AI company xAI in 2023, which is now part of SpaceX.
“After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow,” Musk wrote on X on Saturday, referring to his claims in the lawsuit he lost. “What do you plan for an encore? That’s tough to beat.”
Altman has yet to respond.
