OpenAI CEO Sam Altman mocked Tesla chief Elon Musk on Tuesday, saying he operates from a “position of insecurity.” Altman’s barb came a day after Musk led an unsolicited $97.4 billion offer to acquire the nonprofit that controls OpenAI — an offer Altman quickly said he was not interested in.
“I wish he would just compete by creating a better product,” Altman said about Musk’s bid in an interview with Bloomberg.
Musk’s xAI raised $6 billion at a $35 billion-$40 billion valuation in late 2024; X, the social media app he owns, offers users Grok, an artificial intelligence competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Altman then got personal after Bloomberg reporter Tom Mackenzie asked if Musk’s approach was from a “position of insecurity” about xAI. The OpenAI boss agreed, saying it’s likely that Musk’s “whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy.”
“I don’t think he’s like a happy person,” Altman added.
His sharp words came after Musk added another chapter to the ongoing feud between the two tech execs on Monday with his bid.
Musk, alongside Altman and a number of others, was a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015. But he left the company’s board in 2018, and he has been critical of Altman’s push to convert the company behind ChatGPT into a for-profit business.
The X and Tesla boss sued Altman and another OpenAI founder last year over the move, saying they “betrayed” OpenAI’s founding principles.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement provided to WSJ by his attorney, Marc Toberoff, on Monday. “We will make sure that happens.”
OpenAI created a for-profit subsidiary a year after Musk’s departure, allowing it to raise money from Microsoft, its primary backer, and other investors. The company is currently aiming to raise funding at a $340 billion valuation; Bloomberg reported in September that Altman would end up with a 7% equity stake in OpenAI if it becomes a for-profit business, meaning his slice would be worth $23.8 billion at the above valuation.
Last year, Musk joked OpenAI should change its name to “ClosedAI” due to its move away from its initial mission: providing open source AI technology that benefits everyone. And last September, the X owner shared his displeasure with OpenAI’s planned business restructuring.
“You can’t just convert a non-profit into a for-profit,” Musk posted. “That is illegal.”
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