Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI and WLD, described Elon Musk as a "bully," always looking to stir trouble and attack billionaires.
In an interview on December 19, Sam Altman acknowledged that Musk "did a lot to help OpenAI in its early days," but criticized the world's richest man for always enjoying stirring trouble with other billionaires.
"Currently, it's me. Before that, it was Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and many others. I think the underlying reason is that OpenAI is doing very well. Elon is concerned about achieving significant success," Altman said.
Musk has not commented on this statement.
The conflict between the two billionaires stems from disagreements related to the structure and control of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI, claiming that the non-profit organization he helped establish cannot successfully transition into a for-profit company due to violating its original purpose, which is to benefit all humanity by developing artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Musk also claimed that Altman and Greg Brockman, two co-founders of OpenAI, "manipulated," "intentionally seduced, deceived, exploited his concerns" to advance the company's establishment.
However, OpenAI responded that Musk wanted them to become a for-profit company from the beginning. He is also said to have wanted OpenAI to be a part of Tesla.
"His words and actions speak for themselves. Back in 2017, Elon not only expressed a desire but actually created the for-profit organization. When he couldn't gain majority ownership and full control, he left and said we would fail," OpenAI stated in a post published on December 13.
OpenAI later transitioned from a non-profit model to a capped profit structure, adding a for-profit branch in 2019 with a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. The company is currently valued at $157 billion. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's xAI has also doubled in value since its last funding round in May, reaching $50 billion.
Despite their confrontation, Sam Altman believes Elon Musk will not abuse his position to punish OpenAI, as the world's richest man grows closer to President-elect Donald Trump and is appointed head of the Government Performance Office (DOGE).
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