The row between Elon Musk, who is the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, and Sam Altman of OpenAI went viral after the latter's former CEO led an investor group in acquiring the non-profit controlling the AI company for $97.4 billion.
Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to seize control of the ChatGPT maker, but Altman rejected the unsolicited bid on Musk's platform X, saying, "no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk, who bought X under its former moniker for $44 billion in 2022, responded to the post by simply writing: "Swindler."
This marks the latest escalation between Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it. Musk has criticised OpenAI for abandoning its open-source and non-profit mission.
‘I Don’t Trust OpenAI’: Musk Adds Fuel To Fire
Musk targeted the OpenAI CEO in a series of incendiary social media posts, calling him "Scam Altman" after he rejected the offer. "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," he was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal before making the offer.
The tech mogul, an ally of US President Donald Trump, also shared a previous video where he shared his apprehensions about the OpenAI policy. "I don't trust OpenAI. I started that company as a non-profit open-source. The open in OpenAI, I named the company," he said.
I don't trust OpenAI and Sam Altman. I don't think we want to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who is not trustworthy." Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/7vvyJioJna
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 28, 2025
OpenAI as in open source and it is now extremely closed source and maximising profit. I don't understand how you can go from being an open source non-profit to a closed source for maximum profit organisation," he added. When asked whether Sam Altman was getting rich, Musk said although the OpenAI CEO claimed not to get rich, he has claimed many things that were false.
Now apparently he's going to get $10 billion of stock or something like that so I don't trust Sam Altman. I don't think we would want to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who's not trustworthy," he further remarked.
Musk, an early investor in OpenAI and one of its board members, filed a lawsuit last year against the company first in California state court and then in federal court. He accused OpenAI of breaching its original mission as a non-profit research lab dedicated to developing better-than-human AI safely for the benefit of the public good.
The overnight success of ChatGPT has brought two years of international fame and new revenues for OpenAI and also raises the question of internal battles over the future of the organisation as well as the advanced AI being developed. Its non-profit board fired Altman last late 2023. He returned days later with a new board.
Musk-Trump Split Over Mega AI Project
After his inauguration in January, Trump announced a major $500 billion investment for the building of infrastructure for AI into the United States, led by Japanese giant SoftBank, cloud giant Oracle and OpenAI.
However, Musk was quick to cast doubt on the project, saying the money promised for the investment actually was not there. The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world's richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the new US administration.
Altman fired back at Musk. "Wrong, as you surely know," he said, responding to Musk's insinuation that SoftBank was short of capital. "I realize what's great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you'll mostly put America first."
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