The long-simmering feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman resurfaced over the weekend, marked by sharp exchanges on social media platform X, following Apple's lawsuit accusing OpenAI of stealing its trade secrets. Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, reignited his nearly decade-long dispute with Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, by calling him "Scam Altman" in a post on Saturday.
Musk continued his online commentary, suggesting Altman "takes scamming to a whole new level" and posted an image of Altman with the caption, "By ‘this’ he means scamming." Musk further stated, "He might literally love scamming more than any human alive!"
Altman responded by criticizing Musk's business ventures, including SpaceX's recent IPO, writing, "[H]omeboy you’re the one sellling [sic] public market investors on short-term space datacenters." Musk retorted, claiming SpaceX would begin flights next year and invited Altman to observe them if his "parole officer approves." Musk also accused OpenAI of stealing Apple's phone technology after previously acquiring an open-source AI charity.
Apple's lawsuit, filed Friday, alleges that "at every level… OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets." The complaint specifically cites a junior employee who allegedly used an Apple employee's login credentials to access company servers. Additionally, Apple claims that OpenAI hardware chief Tang Tan, a former Apple employee, solicited confidential information from job candidates and encouraged them to share Apple product "parts."
The legal dispute echoes Apple's past confrontations, including its "thermonuclear war" with Google's Android ecosystem and its accusations against Samsung for allegedly copying the iPhone, which later settled.
Altman used the exchange to promote OpenAI's latest chatbot, suggesting that its performance, particularly with GPT-5.6 Sol, was a more reliable indicator of its quality than Musk's focus on him. Altman also stated he had "tremendous respect" for Apple, calling it an "s-tier company."
Musk and Altman were co-founders of OpenAI in 2015 when it was established as a nonprofit AI research lab. Their relationship soured when Musk departed OpenAI's board in 2018 after donating to the organization. He subsequently sued OpenAI, alleging a transition to a for-profit model misled him. A jury ruled in favor of Altman and OpenAI, though Musk has indicated plans to appeal.
Tensions escalated when Musk recruited AI researchers from OpenAI for his own ventures and pushed for a merger between OpenAI and Tesla. After OpenAI declined, Musk ceased his donations to the company. In the summer of 2023, Musk filed a lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI, alleging collusion to affect Grok's App Store rankings, a case that remains ongoing.