The rift continues and has gotten worse between Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Shortly after offers surfaced that Musk would co-lead a $100 billion effort to take OpenAI private, Altman issued a firm rebuttal. At the Paris AI Action Summit, Altman told Bloomberg’s Tom Mackenzie, “OpenAI is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time.”
When asked whether he was taking Musk’s incursion seriously, Altman suggested that, rather, Musk was trying to slow OpenAI’s momentum. “I think he is probably trying to slow us down,” he said. He did say that Musk was a competitor in another sense, working hard to raise money for his startup, xAI, which seeks to challenge OpenAI in the field of AI.
“I wish he would just compete by building a better product,” Altman said. “But I think there’s been a lot of tactics-many lawsuits and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Now this. We’ll just try to put our heads down and keep working.”
OpenAI CEO takes a personal shot @elonmusk
> Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity.
> He’s not a happy person.
> “I feel for the guy.”HOLY. FUCK.LMAO pic.twitter.com/cVmwxrap2E
— NIK (@ns123abc) February 11, 2025
When questioned on why Altman thinks Musk would act this way, he suggested that personal insecurity drove Musk’s decision. “His whole life is from a position of insecurity,” he said. “I feel for the guy. Actually, I do. I don’t think he’s a happy person.”
Musk’s Influence and Political Ties
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Of late, Musk has found himself in the glare of headlines due to his closeness with Donald Trump, who named him to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Asked by an interviewer on the possibility of Musk’s influence growing over policy in the U.S., especially in the area of AI, Altman responded saying, “Maybe I should, but not particularly. I try to just wake up and think about how we’re going to make our technology better.”
Musk and his consortium of investors were reported on Monday to make an offer to take control of OpenAI and re-establish it to its initial non-profit intent. Altman has responded to the bid by publicly dismissing it on X, jokingly counter-offering to buy Twitter (now X) for $9.74 billion. “No thank you, but we will buy twitter if you want,” he posted.
A History of Clashes
The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk goes way back as Musk has often criticized the leadership of the non-profit OpenAI. This year, just the other day, when Trump announced the controversial $500 billion Stargate Project-backed OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, Musk went to X to pour contempt over that particular initiative.
Musk has openly stated that he does not trust Altman and OpenAI. In an earlier interview, he said, “I don’t trust OpenAI and Sam Altman. I don’t think we want to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who is not trustworthy.”
With no signs of easing tensions, the battle between these two AI powers goes on.
