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TechMusk and Altman spar on X after Apple sues OpenAI for trade secret theft
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The long-standing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman reignited on social media platform X after Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for alleged trade secret theft. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left in 2018, called Altman 'Scam Altman' in posts. Altman responded by accusing Musk of being obsessed with him due to OpenAI's release of the GPT-5.6 Sol model. The exchange follows a recent trial where a jury ruled in favor of Altman in Musk's lawsuit over OpenAI's for-profit shift. Both leaders are also competing in AI model releases—SpaceX's Grok 4.5 versus OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol—and are pursuing IPOs. SpaceX recently completed a record $75 billion IPO, while OpenAI has filed confidentially for its own. Musk has also sued Apple and OpenAI over alleged anti-competitive practices.
Source report
The long-running feud between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reignited on X this weekend, following Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI alleging trade secret theft. Altman suggested Musk's fixation stems from the release of a new OpenAI model.
Watch Now VIDEO | 3:20 Elon Musk and Sam Altman spar on X over Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI — TechCheck
Background of the Rivalry
Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit artificial intelligence research lab, alongside a team of engineers and scientists.
In 2018, Musk left OpenAI's board after donating tens of millions of dollars to the organization. He later objected to Altman's efforts to build "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 has said he will appeal.
The relationship deteriorated further after Musk:
- Borrowed OpenAI engineering personnel to remake Tesla's Autopilot technology
- Poached AI researcher Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI
- Pressured OpenAI to give him complete control and merge the lab into Tesla
Altman and other OpenAI board members rebuffed Musk, who then stopped making promised contributions, leaving OpenAI in a difficult financial position.
Recent Developments
Weeks after the trial, Musk's company SpaceX — which controls the X social platform, the xAI lab, and Starlink broadband internet — completed its landmark initial public offering. SpaceX raised a record $75 billion, promoting plans to launch data centers into space, along with 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
- OpenAI debuted GPT-5.6 Sol
For days, Musk and Altman hyped their respective releases, but the rivalry turned personal on Saturday.
The Latest Exchange
Earlier, Musk sued both Apple and OpenAI, alleging anti-competitive practices that left Grok lower in app store rankings than other AI chatbots and image generators.
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 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 words, "I'm doing this because I love it."
"By 'this' he means scamming," Musk wrote, adding two rolling-on-the-floor-laughing emojis.
He then replied to his own post:
"He might literally love sc
Broader Context
SpaceX has sought to expand in AI coding through its $60 billion all-stock acquisition of Cursor, expected to close in the third quarter following regulatory review. The deal would help SpaceX compete against Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex, which rapidly write source code for applications.
Source
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Part of this Story
Musk and Altman Feud Over Apple Lawsuit and AI Competition