Another Fallout! Musk and Altman's Old Grudges Reignite

The war of words between Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman continued to escalate over the weekend. The two tech giants once again accused each other of unethical behavior.

The dispute began last week when Altman posted that, due to the years-long delay in the delivery of the Tesla Roadster, he decided to cancel his reservation and request a refund. Altman shared a screenshot of an email from July 2018, confirming he had paid $45,000 to reserve the next-generation Tesla Roadster. Another screenshot showed that he later requested a $50,000 refund, but the email bounced back because the reservation email address appeared to be inactive.

Subsequently, Musk responded in a post on Saturday: "You stole a non-profit organization." This statement directly referred to OpenAI's recent transition to a for-profit structure. This move has sparked criticism from many, including Musk, who believe the company has deviated from its original mission.

In response to Altman posting the screenshot of the failed Tesla refund email, Musk countered that Altman "deliberately omitted" the fact that Tesla had refunded him within 24 hours, and sarcastically added: "That is very much in your character."

Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman, which was then a non-profit AI research company. However, their relationship gradually deteriorated, and they have repeatedly attacked each other on social media and in legal documents.

Musk left the OpenAI board in 2018 and founded the competing company xAI in 2023, while Altman currently serves as OpenAI's CEO. The rivalry between the two has only intensified.

Altman responded on the X platform on Sunday: "I helped turn the thing you abandoned into the world's largest non-profit. You know as well as anyone that to do that, we had to adopt a structure like OpenAI has now."

He also pointed out that Musk once wanted Tesla to acquire OpenAI and operate it for profit, "You didn't want a non-profit structure at all back then."

"Now you have a great AI company, and so do we. Can't we both just move forward?" Altman said, referring to Musk's xAI company, which was founded after the split with OpenAI.

Last week, OpenAI officially announced its transition to a for-profit company. According to the new organizational structure, the non-profit OpenAI Foundation will have legal control over a public benefit company called OpenAI Group, which can freely raise funds. The OpenAI Foundation will hold a 26% stake in the for-profit entity, Microsoft holds 27%, and the remaining shares are jointly owned by investors and employees.

The company wrote: "This non-profit is now called the OpenAI Foundation and holds equity in the for-profit division, currently valued at about $130 billions, making it one of the most well-funded charitable organizations. When the OpenAI for-profit division reaches valuation milestones, this capital restructuring will also grant the Foundation additional equity."