Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still taking swipes at each other on Musk’s social media platform X.
While both men were founders at OpenAI, where Altman is CEO, they have subsequently sparred across social media, court filings, and corporate blog posts. The latest exchange began when Altman posted what he called “a tale in three acts,” with screenshots showing that he reserved a Tesla Roadster in 2018, then recently tried to cancel it and request a refund on his $50,000 reservation fee, only for his email to bounce.
“I really was excited for the car!” Altman wrote. “And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.”
The second-generation Roadster sports car was first announced in November 2017 but has been repeatedly pushed back, with Musk (Tesla’s CEO) recently saying that a new version will be unveiled by the end of this year.
Musk first responded to Altman’s post by writing, “You stole a nonprofit,” a criticism that he’s directed at Altman and OpenAI before — not just in tweets, but also with lawsuits and takeover bids seeking to stymie OpenAI’s attempts to restructure as a for-profit company (a process that OpenAI recently completed, with its non-profit arm still retaining control over the for-profit public benefit corporation).
Musk even started a rival AI startup, xAI, which is suing OpenAI and Apple over allegations that the two companies are colluding to stifle competition. (Altman said the accusation is “remarkable … given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”)
In addition to repeating his criticism of Altman and OpenAI, Musk also suggested today that Altman’s screenshots didn’t tell the full story: “And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that is in your nature.”
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