"He Loves Scamming the Most" vs. "You're Selling Short-term Schemes"... The Keyboard Battle Between Two Titans
Business Mockery and Personal Attacks Fly Amid Apple’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI
OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT, is facing a lawsuit from Apple over allegations of trade secret theft, while Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, have engaged in a war of words.
On July 11 (local time), Musk took to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and shared a news report stating that OpenAI had stolen Apple's confidential information through departing employees, leading to the lawsuit. Musk sarcastically commented, "They really put a lot of effort into committing this crime."
Musk twisted Altman's first name, calling him "Scam Altman" and criticizing, "He has taken scamming to a whole new level." Musk also mocked Altman by posting a photo of him saying, "I do this because I love it," and added, "What he means by 'this' is scamming. He probably loves scamming more than anyone else in the world." Altman's statement was originally part of his testimony at a U.S. Senate hearing in May 2023, where he stated he was serving as OpenAI's CEO without pay or equity, but Musk used it as material for ridicule.
Altman also fired back at Musk. Referring to Musk in a casual tone as "homeboy," Altman said, "You're the one selling short-term space data centers to public market investors."
Altman's remarks appeared to target Musk's proposed space data center initiative, centered around SpaceX. Musk has been boosting his company's valuation by presenting plans to build solar-powered AI computing facilities in satellite orbits to solve the power and cooling challenges of ground-based data centers, and Altman expressed a critical view of these ambitions. Altman has indicated that he believes space data centers are unlikely to become commercially viable in the near future.
Additionally, OpenAI and SpaceXAI both unveiled new AI models around the same time recently, with OpenAI releasing GPT-5.6, the latest version of ChatGPT, and SpaceXAI debuting Grok 4.5. Altman commented, "There is plenty of evidence suggesting that this latest model is the best AI model, but the most definitive proof is that Elon Musk is once again obsessed with me."
The two were once close, having co-founded OpenAI together in 2015. However, a deep conflict over OpenAI's management reportedly ensued afterward. Musk sued Altman, claiming that Altman deceived him by breaking his promise to operate OpenAI as a nonprofit and instead turning it into a for-profit entity. However, the court ruled against Musk, stating that he failed to file the lawsuit within the legally prescribed period. Last month, a separate trade secret infringement lawsuit filed by Musk's AI company xAI against OpenAI was also dismissed by a U.S. federal court. Against this backdrop, the two have spent the past several years publicly mocking and making personal attacks on each other's businesses.
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