Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk: OpenAI CEO says company not for sale, calls Musk an ‘unhappy person’

Sam Altman, in a recent interview, said that Elon Musk’s whole life has been about being insecure.

Sam Altman and Elon Musk got into a war of words after the latter and his aides offered to buy OpenAI. (Express Image)

Sam Altman and Elon Musk got into a legal tussle after the latter parted ways with OpenAI (Express Image)

The Sam Altman vs. Elon Musk saga is far from over. Hours after the Tesla boss-led group offered around $100 billion to buy OpenAI, the CEO responded. Altman has, in terse words, said that OpenAI is not for sale, adding that Musk has been trying to slow down the AI powerhouse. “OpenAI is not for sale. Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time,” Altman said in interview with Tom Mackenzie on the sidelines of the Paris AI Action Summit.

The Bloomberg journalist asked the OpenAI chief if he took all of this seriously at all, to which he responded by saying, “I think he is probably trying to slow us down.” Altman said that Musk was ‘obviously’ a competitor and that he has been working hard and raising a lot of money for xAI, which is trying to compete with OpenAI from a technological perspective, especially getting the product into the market.

Altman also hoped that Musk would compete by focusing on better products for xAI. “I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics, many, many lawsuits, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Now this, and we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working,” Altman told the Mackenzie.

OpenAI CEO takes a personal shot @elonmusk

> Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity.
> He’s not a happy person.
> “I feel for the guy.”

HOLY. FUCK.LMAO pic.twitter.com/cVmwxrap2E

— NIK (@ns123abc) February 11, 2025

When asked if Musk’s approach was from a position of insecurity, Altman said that the SpaceX chief’s whole life is from a position of insecurity. “I feel for the guy. Actually, I do. I don’t think he’s a happy person. I do feel for him,” he said.

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In the last few months, Musk has been making headlines owing to his proximity to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. The president also bestowed upon him the charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. When asked if Musk’s bonhomie with Trump worries him as he could influence the decision making of the US presidency and policies around his agenda on AI, Altman said, “Maybe I should, but not particularly. I mean, I try to just wake up and think about how we’re going to make our technology better.”

On Monday, Musk, along with a consortium of investment firms and his own startup xAI, reportedly offered to take controlling stakes in OpenAI and revert it to its original mission as a nonprofit research lab. Altman took to his X handle to shoot down the offer, saying, “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Notably, Musk bought Twitter (now X) for $44 billion in 2022.”

Musk and Altman have had a rocky relationship, with the former occasionally firing potshots at the OpenAI CEO. In January, when Trump announced the Stargate Project worth $500 billion in cohorts with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, Musk had slammed it in his post on X, raising doubts about the investments. The X chief has on numerous occasions stated his displeasure with Altman. In one of his interviews last year, Musk shared that he does not trust Altman. “I don’t trust OpenAI and Sam Altman. I don’t think we want to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who is not trustworthy,” Musk had said.