Musk and Altman Trade Jabs on X After Apple Files Lawsuit Against OpenAI

Elon Musk and Sam Altman clashed publicly on X this weekend, reviving years of tension between the two OpenAI co-founders. The spark came after Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing the company of stealing trade secrets. Reacting to the news, Musk called Altman “Scam Altman,” a nickname he has used repeatedly over the past year, and followed up by saying Altman had “taken scamming to a whole new level.”

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Musk kept posting, sharing a photo of Altman captioned about loving what he does, then joking that “this” meant scamming. Altman responded by pointing to Musk’s space data center pitch to investors, and Musk shot back with a jab referencing Musk’s parole officer, tied to Musk’s ongoing legal history with OpenAI.

Model Releases Fuel the Feud

The exchange comes right after both companies released new AI models this week, Grok 4.5 from Musk’s xAI and GPT-5.6 Sol from OpenAI. Altman suggested the real signal of his model’s strength was that Musk was “obsessed” with him again. He also brushed off claims he fears Apple, calling the company “s-tier.” OpenAI told reporters it has no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.