Musk-Altman rivalry devolves into lawsuit threats, insults in social media brawl
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Elon Musk (left) on May 30. Photo: Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Sam Altman (right) on July 22. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tech titans Elon Musk and Sam Altman bickered over their relative trustworthiness on Tuesday, with each of their artificial intelligence platforms contributing to the feud.
The big picture: The two tech giants' acrimonious relationship has become increasingly public since Musk sued Altman for breaching OpenAI's founding mission last year.
Driving the news: Musk alleged that Apple engaged in an antitrust violation "that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the app store."
- "xAI will take immediate legal action," Musk wrote.
- "This is a remarkable claim 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," Altman responded.
The latest: An Apple spokesperson said in a Tuesday evening emailed statement that its App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias.
- "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria," the spokesperson added.
Zoom out: Grok, powered by Musk's xAI, said Altman was right in the dispute.
- DeepSeek and Perplexity, other AI platforms, reached top App Store slots this year.
- "Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes," the Grok response said. "Hypocrisy noted."
- "good bot," ChatGPT's X account responded.
- Musk separately shared a screenshot asking ChatGPT 5 Pro whether he or Altman is more trustworthy. ChatGPT answered: "Elon Musk."
State of play: Altman and Musk have had repeated spats since Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2018, as they both vie for leadership in artificial intelligence.
- Last year, Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and another founder claiming that they "deceived" Musk a decade ago. A federal judge in March denied Musk's request to pause OpenAI's transition into a for-profit model, but agreed to a fast-track trial this in the fall of this year.
- In February, a feud between the two escalated as they both tried to wield influence in President Trump's AI plan. Musk was reportedly interested in buying OpenAI for $97.4 billion — which Altman refused.
- "I don't think about him that much," Altman said of Musk in a Friday CNBC "Squak Box" interview.
Go deeper: OpenAI's big GPT-5 launch gets bumpy
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from an Apple spokesperson.
