Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still taking digs at each other on Musk’s social media platform X.
While both men were founders of OpenAI, where Altman is CEO, they later competed over social media, court filings and corporate blog posts. The latest exchange began when Altman posted what he called “a story in three acts,” in which screenshots showed he reserved a Tesla Roadster in 2018, then recently attempted to cancel it and request a refund on his $50,000 reservation fee, only to have his emails bounced.
“I was really excited about the car!” Altman wrote. “And I understand the delay. But 7.5 years feels like a long time to wait.”
The second-generation Roadster sports car was first announced in November 2017, but was repeatedly postponed, with Musk (Tesla CEO) recently saying that a new version would be introduced by the end of this year.
Musk first responded to Altman’s post, writing, “You stole a nonprofit,” a criticism he’s previously leveled at Altman and OpenAI — not just in tweets, but with lawsuits and takeover bids trying to disrupt OpenAI’s efforts to restructure as a for-profit company (a process that OpenAI only recently completed, with its nonprofit arm still held on to the for-profit Public Benefit Corporation. maintaining control).
Musk also started a rival AI startup, XAI, which is suing OpenAI and Apple on allegations that the two companies are colluding to stifle competition. (Altman said the allegation is “remarkable … given what I’ve heard alleging that Elon manipulates X to benefit himself and his companies and to harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”)
In addition to reiterating his criticism of Altman and OpenAI, Musk also suggested today that Altman’s screenshots don’t tell the whole story: “And you forgot to mention Act 4, where this problem was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that’s in your nature.”
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