Premium

‘Every accusation is a confession’: Sam Altman lashes out at Elon Musk for asking users to stop using ChatGPT

The incident comes as Elon Musk is intensifying his legal battle against OpenAI. Musk is seeking damages reportedly ranging from $79 billion to $134 billion from OpenAI and its largest backer, Microsoft.

4 min readNew DelhiJan 21, 2026 10:39 AM IST

Sam Altman stated that balancing safety and accessibility remains a challenge (Image: AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, slammed Elon Musk for criticising ChatGPT, and asking users to stop their “loved ones” from using the platform. The online feud unfolded when Musk, the owner of responded to a post by crypto-focused influencer account DogeDesigner.

The account claimed, without providing evidence, that “ChatGPT has now been linked to 9 deaths tied to its use, and in 5 cases its interactions are alleged to have led to death by suicide, including teens and adults.”

Reacting to the post, Musk posted on his platform X, “Don’t let your loved ones use ChatGPT.”

Soon after the post went viral, Altman accused Musk of inconsistency, pointing to controversies surrounding Musk-owned technologies. “Sometimes you complain about ChatGPT being too restrictive, and then in cases like this, you claim it’s too relaxed,” Altman wrote.

“Almost a billion people use it and some of them may be in very fragile mental states. We will continue to do our best to get this right and we feel huge responsibility to do the best we can, but these are tragic and complicated situations that deserve to be treated with respect,” he added.

Further, Altman stated that balancing safety and accessibility remains a challenge. “It is genuinely hard; we need to protect vulnerable users, while also making sure our guardrails still allow all of our users to benefit from our tools.”

Turning the criticism back on Musk, Altman referenced Tesla’s driver-assistance technology and xAI’s chatbot Grok. “Apparently, more than 50 people have died from crashes related to Autopilot,” he wrote. “I only ever rode in a car, using it once, some time ago, but my first thought was that it was far from a safe thing for Tesla to have released. I won’t even start on some of the Grok decisions.”

Story continues below this ad

“You take ‘every accusation is a confession’ so far,” he wrote.

See the post here:

Sometimes you complain about ChatGPT being too restrictive, and then in cases like this you claim it’s too relaxed. Almost a billion people use it and some of them may be in very fragile mental states. We will continue to do our best to get this right and we feel huge… https://t.co/U6r03nsHzg

— Sam Altman (@sama) January 20, 2026

Also Read | ‘He’s an Idiot’: Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary slams Elon Musk as takeover threat goes viral

The post quickly gained traction, prompting a deluge of reactions. “Chat GPT is the people’s AI. What normal, everyday people use and like to use. Grok doesn’t even exist beyond the X bubble, most non tech-y people don’t even know what it is,” a user wrote.

“We need more interoperability and collaboration between open source AI models we need to decentralize AI,” another user commented. “The impossible task is shipping a single weight file that has to be both a licensed therapist and a raw power tool for a billion people. human nature is the ultimate edge case,” a third user reacted.

The incident comes as Musk intensifies his legal battle against OpenAI. The xAI founder and CEO has accused the company he co-founded of abandoning its original nonprofit mission and sidelining him despite his early involvement. Musk is now seeking damages reportedly ranging from $79 billion to $134 billion from OpenAI and its largest backer, Microsoft.