'He Might Literally Love Scamming More Than Any Human Alive': Elon Musk Takes Aim At Sam Altman Amid Apple-OpenAI Feud

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are once again trading barbs on X, reviving their long-running feud over OpenAI's direction. The latest exchange was set off by Apple's newly filed lawsuit against OpenAI, and escalated quickly after Musk declared of his former co-founder, "He might literally love scamming more than any human alive!"

What triggered the latest spat?

The clash comes days after Apple sued OpenAI, alleging that the ChatGPT maker stole its trade secrets. According to Apple's complaint, the theft occurred 'at every level,' from members of its technical staff to its chief hardware officer, and in coordination with business partners. Soon after the lawsuit made headlines, Musk resurfaced his long-used 'Scam Altman' nickname for the OpenAI CEO, posting a photo of Altman captioned "I'm doing this because I love it," to which Musk added his own line, "By 'this' he means scamming," before following up with the remark that has since become the centrepiece of the exchange.

Altman hits back over Musk's satellite venture

Altman did not let the jab go unanswered. He reshared Musk's post with a pointed reply aimed at Musk's satellite data centre ambitions, accusing him of 'selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters.'

Musk fired back at Altman's satellite dig with a reference to his own venture, writing "We start flying them next year," and inviting Altman to see them "if your parole officer approves." He went further, accusing Altman of having "stolen an open source AI charity" before turning to Apple's fresh allegations, adding that Altman had then gone on to steal "all of Apple's phone technology," and asking sarcastically what Altman planned for an encore.

A rivalry with a long history

The Musk-Altman feud predates this week's exchange by years. The two helped start OpenAI together in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab before Musk exited its board in 2018. Musk later sued OpenAI and Altman, accusing the company of abandoning its nonprofit mission and turning into what he called a 'de facto subsidiary' of Microsoft. A California jury dismissed that lawsuit in May, ruling that Musk had waited too long to bring his case, a verdict Musk publicly criticised at the time.

Apple's new lawsuit against OpenAI, which centres on trade secret allegations involving Apple's hardware plans, appears to have given the long-simmering rivalry between Musk and Altman a fresh trigger, even though neither Musk nor Altman is a party to Apple's case.