The Elon Musk vs. Sam Altman knockout rounds continue.
After opening the doors to a billionaire fight club earlier Wednesday by questioning the finances of President Donald Trump’s new $500 billion AI venture, Musk doubled down on his attacks toward the OpenAI CEO by launching a tirade of attacks on his social media platform X overnight.
Musk, clearly peeved at his billionaire opponent, made a series of accusations against the 39-year-old, calling him a “liar” despite Trump’s apparent fondness for him.
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Musk’s vendetta against Altman dates back to his departure from OpenAI, which they co-founded in 2015. Trump’s “First Buddy” is also part of an active lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, where he’s alleged that the company has forgone its mission as a nonprofit by gatekeeping its most advanced AI tech for private customers.
Among the late-night posts Wednesday, Musk spotlighted an old tweet of Altman’s that was seemingly anti-Trump—and pro-LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a Democratic megadonor.
“Very few people realize just how much @reidhoffman did and spent to stop Trump from getting re-elected,” Altman wrote in 2021, which was subsequently posted as a screenshot to Musk’s X page Wednesday evening. “It seems reasonably likely to me that Trump would still be in office without his efforts. Thank you, Reid!”
A few minutes later, the Tesla mogul agreed with a post from right-wing influencer Mike Cernovich where he also embedded a screenshot of Altman’s tweet but added, “Epstein island attendee Reid Hoffman funded the lawfare against Trump, said he wanted Trump to have been killed (this was a few days before the assassination attempt), and Sam Altman is a big fan of Reid!”
“True,” Musk replied.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that the billionaire venture capitalist had visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean on one occasion and had planned to stay at his Manhattan townhouse in 2014. Hoffman told the outlet that he met with Epstein to raise funds for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and expressed his regrets for associating with him.
“It gnaws at me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors,” Mr. Hoffman told WSJ in an email. “While I relied on MIT’s endorsement, ultimately I made the mistake,” he added, “and I am sorry for my personal misjudgment.”
In another post, Musk applauded Cernovich for asking a “good question” after the influencer spotlighted a 2016 post from Altman that read: “Back to work tomorrow on a new project to stop Trump.”
A few minutes later, Musk came back with another Altman attack, pointing to a Reuters article detailing OpenAI’s plans to pivot away from its nonprofit status by giving Altman equity.
“Altman literally testified to Congress that he wouldn’t get OpenAI compensation and now he wants $10 billion,” Musk wrote. “What a liar.”
Altman similarly took the opportunity to get some things off his chest. He responded to one user about his relationship with Musk: “i dont think he’s a nice person or treating us fairly but you have to respect the guy and he pushes all of us to be more ambitious.”
Shortly afterward, Altman reflected on his feelings toward Trump.
“Watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him,” Altman wrote on X Wednesday night. “I wish i had done more of my own thinking and definitely fell in the NPC [a short for non-player character] trap. I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!”
On Tuesday, Trump announced the launch of a multibillion dollar AI project called Stargate which promises to grow artificial intelligence infrastructure across the country. The president tapped Altman, as well as SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison to helm Stargate, who collectively have promised to invest $100 billion in total to kickstart the project—with an additional $400 billion in years to come.
Earlier, when replying to an OpenAI post announcing Stargate on X, Musk swiftly squashed the AI avengers’ dreams by claiming: “They don’t actually have the money.”
“SoftBank has well under $10B secured,” he added. “I have that on good authority.”
In response, Altman, seemingly taunting Musk, wrote: “I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time.”
He also clapped back at Musk’s claims on the group not having any money and wrote: “Wrong, as you surely know.
“Want to come visit the first site already under way? This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put [America] first.”
Vehement Musk hater and primary vanguard of the December MAGA civil war against him, Steve Bannon, also entered the chat Wednesday by telling reporters that the billionaire is “out of control.”
“[Musk] should not reverse what the president’s already talked about,” Bannon quipped. “It’s unacceptable and unsatisfactory. You see how out of control he is.”
