Elon Musk takes a dig at Sam Altman over Apple lawsuit, OpenAI CEO responds
Elon Musk has found the perfect opportunity to take jibes at Sam Altman once again, after Apple sued OpenAI. But it seems that Altman is in no mood to let Musk's comments slide. Here is everything you need to know.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are back at it again. After a legal battle earlier this year, it seems that there is no love lost between the two. Musk has reignited his feud with Altman following Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI. But it seems that the OpenAI CEO is in no mood to stay silent.
After Apple sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing its intellectual property, Elon Musk reshared a post on X that brought back his infamous “Scam Altman” jibe. Musk added, “He (Sam Altman) takes scamming to a whole new level.”
To give you some context, Elon Musk has often accused Altman of scamming investors and turning OpenAI into a for-profit organisation.
Sam Altman calls Elon Musk “homeboy”
Altman quickly responded to Elon Musk over the tech trillionaire's plans for data centres in space. In his reply, the OpenAI CEO referred to Musk as “homeboy,” likely taking a sarcastic jibe at Musk, who was one of the co-founders of OpenAI. Sam Altman wrote, "Homeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacentres.”
Orbital data centres were a key pitch as part of Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO, the biggest IPO in history, that made him the first trillionaire on Earth.
Musk answered with a sharper reply of his own, while hinting that Altman may soon be on parole following Apple’s lawsuit."We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves. After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow. What do you plan for an encore? That’s tough to beat." Elon Musk wrote.
Elon Musk says Sam Altman loves scamming
But this exchange did not stop there. Elon Musk continued his attacks with a screenshot of Sam Altman saying he had no equity in OpenAI and was doing the work for "love". In that exchange, Altman had said, "No. I’m paid enough for health insurance. I have no equity in OpenAI. I’m doing this because I love it." Musk replied, "By ‘this’ he means scamming." and went on to say that Altman "might literally love scamming more than any human alive" and that he "takes scamming to a whole new level.”
To end this feud, at least at the time of writing, Sam Altman hit back. The OpenAI chief claimed the fact Musk was giving him attention showed that the company’s new GPT-5.6 Sol model was the best out there. Altman explained, “There are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 Sol is the best model in the world right now, but the most reliable way to tell is that elon is obsessed with me again.”
GPT-5.6 models, including Sol, Terra, and Luna, were released to the public on Thursday after the US lifted restrictions on the models.
The clash between the two is the latest in a rivalry that goes back to OpenAI’s early days. Musk co-founded the organisation in 2015, helped fund it in its initial years and left in 2018 after disagreements over its direction. He later sued OpenAI, Altman and Greg Brockman over the company’s shift from its original non-profit structure. That case went to trial this year, and a jury ruled against Musk on a statute of limitations issue, after which he said he would appeal.
Why is Apple suing OpenAI?
The online sparring between Musk and Altman came as Apple launched a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract. According to the complaint, Apple accused OpenAI of building its hardware division by targeting Apple employees and extracting confidential information related to future products.
The lawsuit names former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu, and alleges that candidates were encouraged to bring Apple components, blueprints and unreleased material to interviews. Apple also claimed OpenAI used proprietary information to approach Apple’s manufacturing suppliers.
OpenAI has denied the allegations. Drew Pusateri, the company’s Director of Strategic Communications, said on X: "We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." Apple, in its suit, is seeking to stop any use of its trade secrets, secure the return of confidential material and preserve evidence linked to the case.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are back at it again. After a legal battle earlier this year, it seems that there is no love lost between the two. Musk has reignited his feud with Altman following Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI. But it seems that the OpenAI CEO is in no mood to stay silent.
After Apple sued OpenAI for allegedly stealing its intellectual property, Elon Musk reshared a post on X that brought back his infamous “Scam Altman” jibe. Musk added, “He (Sam Altman) takes scamming to a whole new level.”
To give you some context, Elon Musk has often accused Altman of scamming investors and turning OpenAI into a for-profit organisation.
Sam Altman calls Elon Musk “homeboy”
Altman quickly responded to Elon Musk over the tech trillionaire's plans for data centres in space. In his reply, the OpenAI CEO referred to Musk as “homeboy,” likely taking a sarcastic jibe at Musk, who was one of the co-founders of OpenAI. Sam Altman wrote, "Homeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacentres.”
Orbital data centres were a key pitch as part of Elon Musk’s SpaceX IPO, the biggest IPO in history, that made him the first trillionaire on Earth.
Musk answered with a sharper reply of his own, while hinting that Altman may soon be on parole following Apple’s lawsuit."We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves. After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow. What do you plan for an encore? That’s tough to beat." Elon Musk wrote.
Elon Musk says Sam Altman loves scamming
But this exchange did not stop there. Elon Musk continued his attacks with a screenshot of Sam Altman saying he had no equity in OpenAI and was doing the work for "love". In that exchange, Altman had said, "No. I’m paid enough for health insurance. I have no equity in OpenAI. I’m doing this because I love it." Musk replied, "By ‘this’ he means scamming." and went on to say that Altman "might literally love scamming more than any human alive" and that he "takes scamming to a whole new level.”
To end this feud, at least at the time of writing, Sam Altman hit back. The OpenAI chief claimed the fact Musk was giving him attention showed that the company’s new GPT-5.6 Sol model was the best out there. Altman explained, “There are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 Sol is the best model in the world right now, but the most reliable way to tell is that elon is obsessed with me again.”
GPT-5.6 models, including Sol, Terra, and Luna, were released to the public on Thursday after the US lifted restrictions on the models.
The clash between the two is the latest in a rivalry that goes back to OpenAI’s early days. Musk co-founded the organisation in 2015, helped fund it in its initial years and left in 2018 after disagreements over its direction. He later sued OpenAI, Altman and Greg Brockman over the company’s shift from its original non-profit structure. That case went to trial this year, and a jury ruled against Musk on a statute of limitations issue, after which he said he would appeal.
Why is Apple suing OpenAI?
The online sparring between Musk and Altman came as Apple launched a federal lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the company of trade secret misappropriation and breach of contract. According to the complaint, Apple accused OpenAI of building its hardware division by targeting Apple employees and extracting confidential information related to future products.
The lawsuit names former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu, and alleges that candidates were encouraged to bring Apple components, blueprints and unreleased material to interviews. Apple also claimed OpenAI used proprietary information to approach Apple’s manufacturing suppliers.
OpenAI has denied the allegations. Drew Pusateri, the company’s Director of Strategic Communications, said on X: "We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." Apple, in its suit, is seeking to stop any use of its trade secrets, secure the return of confidential material and preserve evidence linked to the case.
