Elon Musk woke up very happy three days ago when Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over allegations that the AI giant obtained proprietary hardware knowledge for new consumer devices.
Since then, Elon has been publicly offering his support for Apple on the issue, on X, as one does. As cryptopolitan I mentioned Previously, Apple said that more than 400 former employees later joined OpenAI, and appointed former design executive Tang Tan as a key figure.
Tang asked employees seeking jobs at OpenAI to bring original components, prototypes and hardware to meetings where they could be demonstrated to others, Apple said. Apple confirms that the components in question include circuits and designs for various hardware parts related to artificial intelligence products that are not yet available to consumers.
Elon uses Apple’s lawsuit to attack Sam over OpenAI’s past
Elon jumped on the allegations and said Sam had taken fraud to a “whole new level.” He later changed Sam’s name to “Scam Altman” and wrote: “He took fraud to a whole new level.”
Elon also returned a photo from Sam’s Senate hearing in May 2023. “I’m doing this because I love this work,” Sam told lawmakers, explaining that he led OpenAI without a salary or equity. Elon twisted that line into yet another insult. “When he says this business, he means fraud. He probably enjoys fraud more than anyone else in the world,” he wrote.
Sam responded by calling Elon a “homeboy” and chasing SpaceX’s planned data centers into orbit. He wrote: “You’re the one selling ‘pop-up stores’ like satellite data centers to investors in the public market.”
The response targeted Elon’s plan to put solar-powered computing systems in space. One way to overcome the problem of using electricity and generating heat is through SpaceX’s proposal. Furthermore, this would help SpaceX boost its valuation if the company can prove that orbital computing is a scalable technology. Sam has his reservations about whether this business can turn into anything real.
“We’ll start flying next year,” Elon replied. “Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer agrees.”
He then added: “After stealing an open source AI charity, you then steal all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow. What are you planning on showing up again? That’s a tough one to beat.”
The battle goes back to the early years of OpenAI. Elon was the main financial backer when the group was still operating as a non-profit organization. By 2018, he became unhappy with how slowly work was going and tried to control things. Sam and the council rejected him. Elon then left the organization, and the relationship never recovered.
Sam questions Elon’s space plan as OpenAI and XII release new models
OpenAI released GPT-5.6 for ChatGPT around the same time that Elon xAI released Grok 4.5. The two companies were already competing on model quality, users, talent and computing power before Apple’s lawsuit added device theft claims to the mix.
Sam promoted the new OpenAI system and used Elon’s attention as part of his presentation. “There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that this new paradigm is the best AI model ever, but the clearest sign is that Elon Musk is obsessed with me again,” he wrote.
Then another X user dragged Apple into the personal battle. The iliketeslas account posted: “Sam Altman wasn’t afraid of Elon but he was terrified of Apple. You can tell by all his posts today.
Sam denied the allegation. He replied: “I’m not afraid of Apple, but I have great respect for it. A first-class company.”
Nikita Beer, Head of X Products, He replied With a joke aimed at suit. “Incredible trade secrets too, and some of the best,” he wrote.
Elon responded by laughing at Nikita’s post.
