Musk and Altman clash on X after Apple sues OpenAI

Elon Musk and Sam Altman traded personal attacks on X after Apple sued OpenAI over alleged trade-secret theft, adding another flashpoint to the fight around artificial intelligence. For everyday investors watching Apple, Tesla, SpaceX and the coming wave of AI listings, the exchange shows how legal fights, product launches and public-market storytelling are now tied together in the AI race.

Apple filed suit Friday against OpenAI, alleging trade-secret theft, according to CNBC. OpenAI denied interest in rivals’ confidential information, with a spokesperson telling CNBC, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.”

Musk responded to an X post about Apple’s lawsuit by calling the OpenAI chief “Scam Altman,” a label he has used before. He followed with additional posts accusing Altman of “scamming,” including one that said Altman “takes scamming to a whole new level,” according to posts on X.

Altman replied by pointing at Musk’s own pitch to investors. “homeboy you’re the one sellling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” Altman wrote on X in a post that CNBC said drew more than 11 million views.

Musk answered: “We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves,” according to his X post.

AI launches added fuel to the feud

The fight came during a busy week for both companies. SpaceX released Grok 4.5, its generative AI model, while OpenAI introduced GPT-5.6 Sol, CNBC reported. A generative AI model is software trained to create text, code, images or other outputs in response to prompts.

Altman framed Musk’s attention as a reaction to OpenAI’s new model. “there are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 sol is the best model in the world right now, but the most reliable way to tell is that elon is obsessed with me again,” Altman wrote on X.

The rivalry also overlaps with app distribution. CNBC reported that Musk previously sued Apple and OpenAI, alleging anti-competitive conduct that left Grok ranked below other AI chatbots and image generators in Apple’s App Store. Anti-competitive conduct refers to behavior alleged to limit fair competition in a market.

Altman also responded to an X account that claimed he was scared of Apple. “i am not afraid of apple, but i have tremendous respect for them. s-tier company,” he wrote. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, replied, “Incredible trade secrets as well, some of the best.” Musk responded with a laughing emoji, according to CNBC.

A long-running split over OpenAI

Musk and Altman helped create OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit AI research organization with engineers and scientists, CNBC reported. Musk left OpenAI’s board in 2018 after donating tens of millions of dollars.

The relationship later broke down over OpenAI’s structure and direction. Musk sued Altman and OpenAI, arguing that Altman misled him by turning the organization toward a for-profit model through related entities. The case went to trial in California this year, where a jury sided with Altman, according to CNBC. Musk said he would appeal.

CNBC reported that tensions grew after Musk borrowed OpenAI engineers to work on Tesla’s Autopilot technology and hired AI researcher Andrej Karpathy from OpenAI. Musk also pressed OpenAI to give him full control and fold the lab into Tesla, but Altman and other board members rejected that plan, CNBC reported.

The corporate stakes have grown since then. CNBC reported that SpaceX, which controls X, xAI and Starlink, completed an initial public offering, a first sale of shares to public investors, and raised $75 billion. OpenAI has confidentially filed for its own IPO, according to CNBC.

SpaceX has also pushed further into AI coding through a planned $60 billion all-stock purchase of Cursor, which CNBC said is expected to close in the third quarter after regulatory review. The deal would place SpaceX more directly against OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code, tools that can quickly generate software code.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.