AI Bosses Fight

The posting war between Elon Musk and Sam Altman is reopening old wounds, stretching from OpenAI’s origins to the Tesla order.

Why Are They Being So Personal?

1- This is the drama surrounding OpenAI, founded by Musk, Altman, and others in 2015. Musk left in 2018 (due to the conflict), and Altman became CEO. OpenAI grew with multi-billion dollar deals with Microsoft but strayed from its “non-profit” roots—something Musk sees as “stealing” and filed a lawsuit in March 2025 (still ongoing).

2- The Tesla incident was just the spark: Altman’s ordering complaint lured Musk back to OpenAI. The media headlined it as “AI sibling feud,” and engagement exploded (Musk’s post received over 19,000 likes).

How Did This Begin?

October 30, 2025:

Sam Altman shares a “three-act story” on X: He put down a $50,000 deposit for a Tesla Roadster in 2018, but when he tried to cancel it 7.5 years later (in 2025), Tesla refused to refund him. He mocks the screenshots: “I was excited about the car, I understand the delays, but 7.5 years is a long time!” This is a light trolling attempt to mock Tesla’s delivery delays.

November 1, 2025:

Musk immediately jumps on Altman’s post, responding, “You stole a non-profit.” This is a direct reference to OpenAI: Musk has been criticizing OpenAI for years for deviating from its original mission of “non-profit, open-source AI” and becoming a closed-source, profit-driven company.

November 2, 2025: Sam Altman responds to Musk’s comment in a lengthy thread (this is the exact screenshot you shared). In short: “I took over what you abandoned (OpenAI) and built it into the world’s largest nonprofit.” “The current structure (capped-profit, a hybrid model) is essential for this—you know it.” Reminder: Musk previously wanted to spin off OpenAI (fully profit-driven, no nonprofits) into Tesla and assessed the odds of success at 0%. The conclusion: “Now you have a great AI company (xAI), and so do we. Can’t we all look forward?”