Tech News Assistant Editor
Tez Mukamba
Tech billionaires Elon Musk and Sam Altman have reignited their long-running feud, trading public jabs on social media over Tesla’s delayed Roadster launch and OpenAI’s transformation from a non-profit to a profit-oriented company.
The latest dispute began when Altman, CEO of OpenAI, took to X (formerly Twitter) on October 30, sharing screenshots of emails showing his 2018 reservation for Tesla’s highly anticipated Roadster, his subsequent request for a refund of the $45,000 deposit, and Tesla’s email change that initially blocked the refund.
Altman wrote, “I was really looking forward to this car and understand the delays, but 7.5 years felt too long to wait,” — a statement widely interpreted as a sarcastic swipe at Tesla’s repeated postponements of the electric supercar.
Tesla first unveiled the second-generation Roadster in 2017, promising record-breaking speed and range with an initial launch set for 2020. That deadline was later pushed to 2023, and then again to 2025, citing supply chain disruptions and shifting production priorities.
Musk, never one to back down from public sparring, responded on November 1, accusing Altman of hypocrisy and betrayal. “You stole the nonprofit,” Musk wrote, referring to Altman’s restructuring of OpenAI from a nonprofit research lab into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) — a hybrid model allowing profit generation alongside a social mission.
He added, “And you didn’t mention that the issue was resolved and you got your refund within 24 hours. But that’s just your nature.”
Altman fired back the next day, defending OpenAI’s evolution and accusing Musk of abandoning the company’s vision. “I helped turn what you abandoned into what will be the largest nonprofit ever,” he wrote. “You also wanted Tesla to acquire OpenAI without any nonprofit structure. Now you have xAI, and we have OpenAI. Can’t we just move forward?”
The two tech leaders’ rivalry traces back to 2015, when they co-founded OpenAI with the shared goal of developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. Musk left the company’s board in 2018, citing conflicts of interest with Tesla’s own AI projects. Their relationship deteriorated further as Musk accused OpenAI of betraying its founding principles by prioritizing profit over transparency.
Earlier in 2025, Musk made headlines after offering $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI’s nonprofit assets — a move Altman publicly mocked by counter-offering to buy Musk’s platform, X, for $9.74 billion.
Their online rivalry intensified again in August 2025, when Musk accused Apple of favoring OpenAI on the App Store. Altman retorted by alleging that Musk manipulated X’s algorithm to boost his own posts, prompting a heated exchange of denials and counterclaims that drew millions of views.
The latest clash underscores the widening rift between two of Silicon Valley’s most influential figures — once collaborators in artificial intelligence, now fierce competitors shaping rival visions of the technology’s future.
