Elon Musk and Sam Altman spar on X after Apple files OpenAI lawsuit

Elon Musk and Sam Altman criticized each other in new posts on X, highlighting the billionaires' long-standing tussle over OpenAI's evolution.
Musk and Altman helped to start OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research lab alongside a band of engineers and scientists.
In 2018, Musk left OpenAI's board after donating tens of millions to the organization, although he later objected to Altman's efforts to construct "an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates" in a lawsuit that went to trial in California this year. A jury ruled in favor of Altman, and Musk said he would appeal the case.
Musk's relationship with Altman and OpenAI eroded after the Tesla and SpaceX CEO borrowed OpenAI engineering personnel to remake Tesla's Autopilot technology and poached AI researcher Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI. Musk pressured OpenAI to give him complete control and merge the lab into Tesla. Altman and other OpenAI board members rebuffed Musk, who stopped making promised contributions to OpenAI, leaving it in a difficult financial position.
Weeks after the trial, Musk's company SpaceX — which controls the X social platform, the xAI lab that challenges OpenAI and the Starlink broadband internet service — completed its landmark initial public offering. SpaceX raised a record $75 billion as it promoted plans to launch data centers into space, as well as ambitions in enterprise AI applications and interplanetary transportation. Meanwhile, OpenAI has filed confidentially for its own IPO.
This week, SpaceX released the Grok 4.5 generative AI model, while OpenAI debuted its own GPT-5.6 Sol. For days, Musk and Altman have hyped up their respective releases, but on Saturday the rivalry got personal. Earlier, Musk sued both Apple and OpenAI, alleging that they engaged in anti-competitive practices that left Grok lower in app store rankings than other AI chatbots and image generators.
SpaceX has sought to expand in AI coding through its $60 billion all-stock acquisition of Cursor, which it expects to close in the third quarter following regulatory review. The deal would help SpaceX go up against Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex, which quickly write source code for applications.
In response to an X post about Apple filing suit against OpenAI on Friday over alleged theft of trade secrets, Musk wrote, "Scam Altman strikes again …"
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has used the "Scam Altman" moniker to refer to the OpenAI CEO on several occasions over the past year. Minutes after his post, Musk doubled down, writing, "He takes scamming to a whole new level."
Next, Musk published a photo of Altman that included the words, "I'm doing this because I love it."
"By 'this' he means scamming," Musk wrote, including two rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emojis.
Musk then replied to that post, writing, "He might literally love scamming more than any human alive!"
The flurry of social activity got Altman's attention.
"[H]omeboy you're the one sellling public market investors on short-term space datacenters," Altman wrote in an X post of his own that garnered over 11 million views.
"We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves," Musk fired back.
Separately, Altman put Musk's fresh wave of attention in the context of OpenAI's fresh model release.
"[T]here 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," Altman wrote on X.
Elsewhere on X, the account @iliketeslas asserted that Altman is scared of Apple. That, too, prompted a response from Altman.
"[I] am not afraid of apple, but i have tremendous respect for them. s-tier company," Altman wrote.
Altman's post led Nikita Bier, X's head of product, to respond: "Incredible trade secrets as well, some of the best."
Musk replied with a face-with-tears-of-joy emoji.
On Friday, an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC, "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets."
— CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
WATCH: Elon Musk loses court battle against Sam Altman, OpenAI

Facts Only

* Elon Musk and Sam Altman criticized each other on X posts regarding OpenAI's evolution.
* Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015.
* Musk left the OpenAI board in 2018 after donating tens of millions.
* Musk objected to Altman's creation of "an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates" in a lawsuit settled in favor of Altman.
* Musk and SpaceX borrowed OpenAI engineering personnel and poached Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI.
* Altman and other board members reportedly rebuffed Musk, leading to Musk stopping promised contributions.
* SpaceX completed an IPO, raising $75 billion, while OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO.
* SpaceX released Grok 4.5; OpenAI debuted GPT-5.6 Sol.
* Musk sued Apple and OpenAI alleging anti-competitive practices related to app store rankings.
* SpaceX acquired Cursor for $60 billion.
* Musk posted statements referencing the legal battle, including "Scam Altman."
* Altman posted about benchmarks suggesting GPT-5.6 Sol is the best model currently.

Executive Summary

Elon Musk and Sam Altman have engaged in public criticism regarding the evolution of OpenAI, stemming from their shared history founding the organization and subsequent professional rivalries. The conflict is highlighted by a lawsuit between Musk and OpenAI concerning the structure of affiliated entities following Musk's earlier departure from the board. This tension was exacerbated by personnel movements, including the borrowing of engineering staff and the poaching of researchers. Following legal proceedings, both parties promoted their respective AI developments: SpaceX released Grok 4.5, and OpenAI debuted GPT-5.6 Sol. The social interaction involved direct jabs over these releases and past disputes, with Musk using terms like "Scam Altman" while Altman framed the competition in terms of performance benchmarks. Furthermore, interactions extended to broader topics involving Apple's litigation against OpenAI and discussions about trade secrets, resulting in a public exchange across X.

Full Take

The dynamic between Musk and Altman illustrates a friction point where shared history, institutional structure, and competitive ambition converge into public antagonism. The conflict is not merely about financial outcomes or technological supremacy; it involves contesting narratives of ownership, innovation, and historical contributions within the AI landscape. The escalation from internal boardroom disputes over personnel and financial commitments to direct, highly personalized social commentary reveals how high-stakes corporate rivalry can be weaponized in the public sphere. Altman’s framing, connecting model performance directly to personal obsession, contrasts with Musk’s focus on legal recourse and structural control (e.g., acquisitions, IP claims). This pattern suggests a systemic challenge where intellectual property evolution is intertwined with personal branding; achieving cognitive sovereignty requires separating the objective reality of technological progress from the emotional, often manipulative, framing used to present it. The narrative suggests that in hyper-competitive fields like AI, rhetorical positioning becomes as critical as factual output, setting up a cycle where attention and perceived authority are contested through provocative language rather than purely objective deliberation.