The history of Elon Musk and Sam Altman's relationship and feuds, which date back to the early days of OpenAI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon MuskGettyElon 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.Elon Musk and Sam Altman lead rival AI firms and regularly take public jabs at each other — but it wasn't always like this.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: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.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon MuskGettyThe group aimed to create a nonprofit focused on developing artificial intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole," according to a statement on OpenAI's website from December 11, 2015.At the time, Musk said that AI was the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.Elon Musk is CEO of Twitter.Carina Johansen/Getty Images"It's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it's equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly," a statement announcing the founding of OpenAI reads.Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board of directors in 2018.Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images"As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will eliminate a potential future conflict for Elon," OpenAI said in a blog post at the time, adding that Musk would continue to provide guidance and donations.With his departure, Musk also backed out of a commitment to provide additional funding to OpenAI, a person involved in the matter told The New Yorker."It was very tough," Altman told the magazine of the situation. "I had to reorient a lot of my life and time to make sure we had enough funding."It was reported that Sam Altman and other OpenAI cofounders had rejected Musk's proposal to run the company in 2018.JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty ImagesSemafor reported in 2023 that Musk wanted to run the company on his own in an attempt to beat Google. But when his offer to run the company was rejected, he pulled his funding and left OpenAI's board, the news outlet said.In 2019, Musk shared some insight on his decision to leave, saying one of the reasons was that he "didn't agree" with where OpenAI was headed.Elon Musk.Susan Walsh/AP"I had to focus on solving a painfully large number of engineering & manufacturing problems at Tesla (especially) & SpaceX," he tweeted. "Also, Tesla was competing for some of same people as OpenAI & I didn't agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do. Add that all up & it was just better to part ways on good terms."Musk has taken shots at OpenAI on several occasions since leaving.Frederic Brown/Getty ImagesTwo years after his departure, Musk said, "OpenAI should be more open" in response to an MIT Technology Review article reporting that there was a culture of secrecy there, despite OpenAI frequently proclaiming a commitment to transparency.Musk also added that his "confidence in Dario for safety is not high," referring to Dario Amodei, who led OpenAI's strategy at the time.In December 2022, days after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Musk said the company had prior access to the database of Twitter — now owned by Musk — to train the AI chatbot and that he was putting that on hold.Getty Images"Need to understand more about governance structure & revenue plans going forward. OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true," he said.Musk was reportedly furious about ChatGPT's success, Semafor reported in 2023.When asked about the future of AI and work, Elon Musk says he has to have a “deliberate suspension of disbelief in order to remain motivated.”Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesIn November 2022, the chatbot took off and garnered millions of users for its ability to do everything from write essays to craft basic code. In February 2023, Musk doubled down, saying OpenAI as it exists today is "not what I intended at all."Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair"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.Musk repeated this assertion a month later."I'm still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn't everyone do it?" he tweeted.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.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesThe March 2023 letter, which also received signatures from several AI experts, cited concerns about 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.But while he was publicly calling for the pause, Musk was quietly building his own AI competitor, xAI, The New Yorker reported in 2023. He launched the company in March 2023.Altman has addressed some of Musk's gripes about OpenAI.Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch"To say a positive thing about Elon, I think he really does care about a good future with AGI," Altman said in 2023 on an episode of the "On With Kara Swisher" podcast, referring to artificial general intelligence."I mean, he's a jerk, whatever else you want to say about him — he has a style that is not a style that I'd want to have for myself," Altman told Swisher. "But I think he does really care, and he is feeling very stressed about what the future's going to look like for humanity." In response to Musk's claim that OpenAI has turned into "a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft," Altman said on the podcast, "Most of that is not true, and I think Elon knows that."Altman has also referred to Musk as one of his heroes.Drew Angerer/GettyIn a March 2023 episode of Lex Fridman's podcast, Altman also said, "Elon is obviously attacking us some on Twitter right now on a few different vectors."Nonetheless, he called Musk one of his heroes, adding, "I believe he is, understandably so, really stressed about AGI safety."In a May 2023 talk at University College London, Altman was asked what he's learned from various mentors, Fortune reported. He answered by speaking about Musk."Certainly learning from Elon about what is just, like, possible to do and that you don't need to accept that, like, hard R&D and hard technology is not something you ignore, that's been super valuable," he said.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."Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesTwitter took aim at posts linking to rival Substack in 2023, 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, now X.Altman joked that he'd watch Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's rumored cage fight.Sam Altman is CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAIIssei Kato/Reuters"I would go watch if he and Zuck actually did that," he said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June 2023, 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."Separately, Altman told The New Yorker in August 2023 that Musk has a my-way-or-the highway approach to issues more broadly."Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it," Altman said. Musk first sued Altman and OpenAI in March 2024.Elon MuskSlaven Vlasic, Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty ImagesMusk sued OpenAI, Altman, and cofounder Greg Brockman in March 2024, alleging the company's direction in recent years had violated its founding principles.Musk's lawyers alleged 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."In response, OpenAI published a series of emails that appeared to show Musk saying he'd agree to the company's for-profit shift and that OpenAI should "attach to Tesla as its cash cow."OpenAI also called the lawsuit "incoherent" and "contradictory," suggesting Musk was jealous of the company's success without him.A few months later, Musk withdrew the lawsuit, a day before a judge was set to consider the case's future in a hearing.Musk sued OpenAI again in August 2024, this time saying he was "deceived" into cofounding the company.Elon Musk appeared to take aim at Sam Altman after the departure of one of OpenAI's most-prominent executives.Marc Piasecki; Justin Sullivan/ Getty ImagesMusk filed a new lawsuit in August 2024 against Altman and Brockman.The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI executives played on Musk's concerns about the existential risks of AI and "assiduously manipulated" him into cofounding the company as a nonprofit. The intent of the company was to focus on building AI safely in an open approach to benefit humanity, the lawsuit says.OpenAI has since adopted a structure featuring a nonprofit parent company and a for-profit subsidiary. It responded to the lawsuit by stating that "Elon's prior emails continue to speak for themselves."Musk expanded his beef with OpenAI to include Microsoft, accusing the two of constituting a monopoly.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.Getty ImagesIn November 2024, Musk amended the lawsuit against OpenAI to include Microsoft and Reid Hoffman, a Microsoft board member and former OpenAI board member, as defendants.The billionaire called OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft a "de facto merger" and accused the two of anti-competitive practices, such as engaging in "lavish compensation." Musk's lawyers said the two companies "possess a nearly 70% share of the generative AI market.""OpenAI has attempted to starve competitors of AI talent by aggressively recruiting employees with offers of lavish compensation, and is on track to spend $1.5 billion on personnel for just 1,500 employees," lawyers for Musk said in the complaint. Two weeks later, Musk filed a motion asking a judge to prevent OpenAI from dropping its nonprofit status.Elon Musk sued OpenAI in March but dropped the lawsuit in JuneAnadoluMusk argued 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.The judge called it a "stretch" for Musk to claim he'd be irreparably harmed if she doesn't intervene to stop OpenAI from becoming a for-profit corporation, but said she wouldn't stop the case from moving to trial as early as 2025.In a March 2025 court filing, both Musk and OpenAI agreed on wanting to expedite a trial, proposing a December date.The judge chastised both Altman and Musk in a decision in July for their "gamesmanship" and "excessive court filings" and said they'd "repeatedly over-litigated this case."Musk wielded great power and influence as Trump's self-proclaimed "First Buddy" and onetime de facto head of DOGE.Donald Trump and Elon MuskGetty ImagesMusk hasn't been quiet about his disdain for Altman postelection. He dubbed the OpenAI cofounder "Swindly Sam" in an X post on November 15. Musk has challenged a $500 billion AI infrastructure project, Stargate, led by OpenAI.PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. Elon Musk is visiting Paris for the VivaTech show where he gives a conference in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts. He also took the opportunity to meet Bernard Arnaud, CEO of LVMH and the French President. Emmanuel Macron, who has already met Elon Musk twice in recent months, hopes to convince him to set up a Tesla battery factory in France, his pioneer company in electric cars.Chesnot/Getty ImagesA 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," adding "I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you'll mostly put [the country] first."In another response to Musk, Altman wrote: "I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time."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.The OpenAI logoChelsea Jia Feng/Paul Squire/BIMusk said the bid was 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."OpenAI's board unanimously rejected the bid, calling it Musk's "latest attempt to disrupt his competition."In August 2025, Musk threatened to sue Apple, saying it gives OpenAI preferential treatment in the App Store.Tim Cook and Elon MuskJustin Sullivan/Getty Images and Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images"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."Altman said Musk's falling-out with Trump wasn't a surprise.Elon Musk and Donald TrumpALEX WROBLEWSKI,ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty ImagesMusk 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.Altman and Musk have also spent plenty of time criticizing each other's AI chatbots.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (left) and Elon Musk (right).Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images; Marco Ravagli/Future Publishing via Getty ImagesIn a recent conversation with reporters, Altman said OpenAI wants to make useful products, adding, "You will definitely see some companies go make Japanese anime sex bots," appearing to reference Grok, which has some NSFW personas.Musk has also tried to pit ChatGPT against Altman, tweeting a screenshot in August showing it had answered Musk's question about whether he or Altman is "more trustworthy."Read the original article on Business Insider

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