OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk have a long history.Getty Elon Musk and Sam Altman cofounded OpenAI years ago, but they’re often at odds today.Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and now heads rival xAI.Here’s a history of Musk and Altman’s working relationship and feuds.ADVERTISEMENT Years ago, the two cofounded OpenAI , which Altman now leads.Musk departed OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, in 2018, and has since begun his own AI venture, xAI.
Their latest point of contention seems to change by the week.
Here’s a look at Musk and Altman’s complicated relationship over the years:
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Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in 2015, alongside other Silicon Valley figures, including Peter Thiel, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, and Y Combinator cofounder Jessica Livingston.Business Insider USA
At the time, Musk said that AI was the “biggest existential threat” to humanity.
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Musk stepped down from OpenAI’s board of directors in 2018.
Source: The New York Times Business Insider USA
It was reported that Sam Altman and other OpenAI cofounders had rejected Musk’s proposal to run the company in 2018.Source: Insider Business Insider USA Business Insider USA
In February 2023, Musk doubled down, saying OpenAI as it exists today is “not what I intended at all.” “OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it “Open” AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft.Not what I intended at all,” he said in a tweet.Source: Twitter Business Insider USA
Musk was one of more than 1,000 people who signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on training advanced AI systems.
The letter, which also received signatures from several AI experts, cites concerns of AI’s potential risks to humanity.”Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the letter says.Source: Future of Life Institute, Insider Business Insider USA
Altman has addressed some of Musk’s gripes about OpenAI.The company announced that it had become a “capped profit” corporation in a blog post.”We want to increase our ability to raise capital while still serving our mission, and no pre-existing legal structure we know of strikes the right balance,” the company said.”Our solution is to create OpenAI LP as a hybrid of a for-profit and nonprofit — which we are calling a ‘capped-profit’ company.”With the new profit structure, OpenAI investors could earn up to 100 times their original investment, but nothing over that.The remaining money would go to not-for-profit work.Sources: OpenAI, Futurism Business Insider USA
Altman has also referred to Musk as one of his heroes.
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Musk has since briefly unfollowed Altman on Twitter before following him again; separately, Altman later poked fun at Musk’s claim to be a “free speech absolutist.” Twitter recently took aim at posts linking to rival Substack, forbidding users from retweeting or replying to tweets containing such links, before reversing course.In response to a tweet about the situation, Altman tweeted, “Free speech absolutism on STEROIDS.”Musk has called himself a “free speech absolutist” before and said it’s one of the reasons he bought Twitter.Source: Big Tech Alert on Twitter, Twitter, Insider Business Insider USA
Altman joked that he’d watch Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s rumored cage fight.
“I would go watch if he and Zuck actually did that,” he said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June, though he said he doesn’t think he would ever challenge Musk in a physical fight.Altman also repeated several of his previous remarks about Musk’s position on AI.”He really cares about AI safety a lot,” Altman said at Bloomberg’s summit.”We have differences of opinion on some parts but we both care about that and he wants to make sure we, the world, have the maximal chance at a good outcome.”Source: Bloomberg, Insider Business Insider USA
Musk first sued Altman and OpenAI in March 2024.He’s suing OpenAI, Altman, and cofounder Greg Brockman, alleging that the company’s direction in recent years has violated its founding principles.His lawyers allege that OpenAI “has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world” and is “refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity.”OpenAI has not yet responded to a request for comment on the lawsuit.Business Insider USA
Musk sued OpenAI again in August 2024, this time saying he was “deceived” into cofounding the company.
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Musk expanded his beef with OpenAI to include Microsoft, accusing the two of constituting a monopoly.Business Insider USA
Two weeks later, Musk filed a motion asking a judge to prevent OpenAI from dropping its nonprofit status.Musk filed a complaint to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, arguing that OpenAI and Microsoft exploited his donations to OpenAI as a nonprofit to build a monopoly “specifically targeting xAI.” In the filing, Musk’s lawyers said OpenAI engaged in anticompetitive behaviors and wrongfully shared information with Microsoft.If granted by the judge, the injunction could cause issues with OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft and prevent it from becoming a for-profit company.Business Insider USA
Musk wielded great power and influence as Trump’s self-proclaimed “First Buddy” and onetime de facto head of DOGE.
As President-elect Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “First Buddy,” Musk’s power and influence on the US economy could increase even further over the next four years.In addition to being a right-hand-man to Trump, he’ll lead the new Department of Government Efficiency with biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.Musk hasn’t been quiet about his disdain for Altman post-election.He dubbed the OpenAI cofounder “Swindly Sam” in an X post on November 15.The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk “despises” Altman, according to people familiar.Business Insider USA
Musk has challenged a $500 billion AI infrastructure project, Stargate, led by OpenAI.A day after Trump’s inauguration, the President announced a $500 billion AI infrastructure project in the US called Stargate with initial funding coming from OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and the United Arab Emirates’ MGX.
The joint venture does not include Musk’s xAI.Musk took to X to challenge the plan and once again criticize his rival.Under OpenAI’s post announcing plans to invest half a trillion dollars over the next four years, Musk wrote, “They don’t actually have the money.””SoftBank has well under $10B secured,” he said.”I have that on good authority.”Altman pushed back, writing that Musk was “wrong” and extended an invite to the “first site already under way.””I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” Altman wrote in another X post to Musk.Business Insider USA
In February 2025, Musk led a group of investors who made a $97.4 billion bid for control of OpenAI, which the company’s board shot down.An investor group led by Musk made an unsolicited bid for control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion.Musk said the bid is about returning OpenAI to an “open-source, safety-focused force for good.”Altman dismissed the proposal, saying, “The company is not for sale, neither is the mission.””No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he posted on X, referring to Musk’s social media platform.Altman later spoke on Musk specifically, saying, “I don’t think he’s a happy person.””Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity,” Altman told Bloomberg TV.”I feel for the guy.
I really do.Actually, I don’t think he’s a happy person.I do feel for him.”Altman believes Musk is “probably just trying to slow us down” with the bid, he told Bloomberg.”They’re trying to compete with us from a technological perspective, from, you know, getting the product into the market,” Altman said, referring to Musk’s xAI.”I wish he would just compete by building better products.” Business Insider USA
In August 2025, Musk threatened to sue Apple, saying it gives OpenAI preferential treatment in the App Store.
“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation.xAI will take immediate legal action,” Musk said.He’d asked earlier why the App Store didn’t feature X, formerly Twitter, higher in its ranking.Grok also ranked below OpenAI in the App Store.Altman later responded on X.”This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like,” he wrote.The two traded several other barbs on X, including one message from Musk saying, “Scam Altman lies as easily as he breathes,” and one from Altman asking Musk to “sign an affidavit that you have never directed changes to the X algorithm in a way that has hurt your competitors or helped your own companies.” Business Insider USA
Altman said Musk’s falling-out with Trump wasn’t a surprise.Musk had a public fallout with Trump after criticizing the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and later announced his intent to form a new political party, the America Party.Asked at the annual Sun Valley conference about the matter, Altman said he didn’t know much about Musk’s new party but wasn’t surprised Musk had feuded with Trump.”Elon busts up with everybody,” Altman said.Business Insider USA
Altman and Musk have also spent plenty of time criticizing each other’s AI chatbots.Business Insider USA.
