Musk and Altman clash on X after Apple sues OpenAI for trade secret theft

Elon Musk arrives at federal court in Oakland, Calif., on April 30, 2026. Musk invested in OpenAI early on believing it would be a non-profit, but is now suing OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman for allegedly deceiving him by developing OpenAI into a for-profit company. Benjamin Fanjoy | Getty Images

The long-standing conflict between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk flared up again on X this weekend, following Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI for alleged trade secret theft. Altman suggested Musk's renewed hostility was tied to the release of a new OpenAI model.

Background of the Rivalry

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research lab, alongside a group of engineers and scientists. Musk left OpenAI's board in 2018 after donating tens of millions of dollars to the organization.

He later objected to Altman's efforts to build what he described in a lawsuit as "an opaque web of for-profit OpenAI affiliates." The case went to trial in California earlier this year, where a jury ruled in favor of Altman. Musk has said he will appeal the verdict.

Recent Developments

Weeks after the trial, Musk's company SpaceX — which controls the X social platform, the xAI lab, and Starlink broadband internet service — completed its landmark initial public offering. SpaceX raised a record $75 billion, promoting plans to launch data centers into space alongside ambitions in enterprise AI applications and interplanetary transportation.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has confidentially filed for its own IPO.

This week, SpaceX released the Grok 4.5 generative AI model, while OpenAI debuted GPT-5.6 Sol. Both Musk and Altman have spent days hyping their respective releases, but the rivalry turned personal on Saturday.

The Exchange on X

In response to a 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 repeatedly over the past year. Minutes later, he doubled down:

"He takes scamming to a whole new level."

Musk then published a photo of Altman with the caption, "I'm doing this because I love it," and wrote:

"By 'this' he means scamming."

He added two rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emojis and followed up with:

"He might literally love scamming more than any human alive!"

Altman Responds

The flurry of posts drew a response from Altman, who wrote in an X post that garnered over 11 million views:

"[H]omeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters."

Musk fired back:

"We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves."

Altman also framed Musk's attention in the context of OpenAI's new 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 on Apple

Elsewhere on X, the account @iliketeslas asserted that Altman is scared of Apple. Altman responded:

"[I] am not afraid of apple, but i have tremendous respect for them. s-tier company."

Altman's post prompted a response from Nikita Bier, X's head of product.