The dispute between Elon Musk and Sam Altman gained a new chapter after Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI over alleged theft of trade secrets. The episode quickly reverberated on the social network X, where the two billionaires exchanged public criticism while their companies compete for space in the race for artificial intelligence.
The relationship between Musk and Altman dates back to 2015, when both participated in the creation of OpenAI as a non-profit organization focused on the development of artificial intelligence. However, the partnership fell apart a few years later, culminating in a series of disagreements over the future of the company.
In 2018, Musk left OpenAI's board, even after contributing tens of millions of dollars to the project. Later, he began to challenge in court the company's transformation into a profit-oriented structure, alleging the creation of “an opaque network of OpenAI for-profit affiliates.” The case was tried in California, where a jury ruled in Altman's favor. Musk said he would appeal the decision.
In recent months, the clash gained new contours with the simultaneous growth of SpaceX and OpenAI. SpaceX completed a historic IPO, raising US$ 75 billion to finance projects that include data centers in space and artificial intelligence applications aimed at companies and future interplanetary missions. In parallel, OpenAI confidentially submitted its documentation for a future public offering.
The technological competition also intensified this week. xAI launched Grok 4.5, while OpenAI introduced GPT-5.6 Sol. For several days, Musk and Altman promoted the capabilities of their respective models, but the conversation changed tone after the lawsuit filed by Apple.
Commenting on a post about the legal action, Musk wrote: “The scammer Altman strikes again...”
A few minutes later, he reinforced the criticism by stating: “He takes fraud to a whole new level.”
Next, Musk posted an image of Altman accompanied by the caption: “I'm doing this because I love it.”
Then he added: “By ‘this,’ he means scamming people”, using two rolling-on-the-floor-laughing person emojis.
Without interrupting the sequence of posts, Musk also wrote: “He may literally love scamming people more than any other living human being!”
The messages quickly gained major traction on platform X and prompted a direct response from Altman.
“Dude, you're the one convincing public market investors to invest in short-term space data centers”, wrote the OpenAI CEO.
Musk fired back next: “We’ll start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves.”
In another post, Altman used the attention generated by the launch of GPT-5.6 Sol to provoke his rival.
“There are many indicators suggesting that the 5.6 sol model is the best in the world right now, but the most reliable way to know is that Elon is obsessed with me again”, he wrote.
The lawsuit filed by Apple also generated new interactions. After the account @iliketeslas claimed that Altman was afraid of the company, the executive replied: “I’m not afraid of Apple, but I have enormous respect for it. Top-tier company.”
The statement received a reply from Nikita Bier, head of product at X, who commented: “Amazing trade secrets too, some of the best.”
Musk ended the exchange by replying only with a face with tears of joy emoji, maintaining the atmosphere of public rivalry between the leaders of xAI and OpenAI at a time of intense competition in the artificial intelligence sector.
