Elon Musk and Sam Altman Renew Their Feud After Apple’s OpenAI Lawsuit

Silicon Valley’s longest-running executive feud flared up again this weekend, this time sparked by a corporate lawsuit.

Apple’s decision to sue OpenAI over alleged trade-secret theft gave Elon Musk another reason to target Sam Altman, and the SpaceX chief didn’t hold back, reviving his “Scam Altman” jab a day after the filing.

Altman, fresh off OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol launch, fired back by mocking Musk’s space data center plans instead of ignoring the attack. The exchange quickly escalated on X with trade secrets, prison jokes, and AI model bragging rights. 

Apple’s Lawsuit Reopens an Old Wound

The latest round began after Apple sued OpenAI, its hardware venture io, and two former Apple employees, alleging they stole confidential information about unreleased products and manufacturing processes. 

Apple claims the material was used to speed up OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions and is seeking both damages and an injunction barring further use of the disputed files. 

OpenAI spokesperson Drew Pusateri denied any wrongdoing, telling CNBC the company has no interest in rivals’ trade secrets. 

The timing mattered: the suit landed just as not only Altman but also Musk was promoting his new AI model, and it gave Musk, OpenAI’s estranged co-founder, an opening to revive the public sparring that has defined their relationship since 2018.

The X Exchange Turns Personal, Then Personal Again

Musk wasted little time, posting “Scam Altman strikes again” and later writing that Altman “takes scamming to a whole new level.” 

He escalated with a doctored image of Altman captioned about loving “this,” which Musk translated as loving scamming, adding that Altman might “love scamming more than any human alive.” 

Altman eventually responded, telling Musk he was “the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” a dig at Musk’s orbital-computing ambitions. 

Musk shot back that flights would begin “next year,” inviting Altman to visit “if your parole officer approves.” 

Altman then pivoted, crediting the sudden attention to GPT-5.6 Sol’s benchmark performance, joking that Musk’s obsession was the more reliable signal. 

X product head Nikita Bier and other users joined in, prompting Altman to insist he wasn’t afraid of Apple, calling it an “S-tier company.”

Billions in Public Markets Now Ride on the Rivalry

What sets this clash apart is the public market backdrop. SpaceX, which owns X, xAI, and Starlink, went public on June 12 at $135 a share, debuting near a $2 trillion valuation after raising about $75 billion in a record IPO.

OpenAI has confidentially filed for an IPO, reportedly valuing the company above $1 trillion, though its listing could slip to late 2026 or 2027.

The feud traces back to a 2024 lawsuit in which Musk accused Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman of abandoning the company’s nonprofit mission; a federal jury sided with OpenAI in May, ruling Musk waited too long to sue, a verdict he says he will appeal. 

Musk has since expanded xAI’s footprint, including a pending $60 billion acquisition of Cursor aimed at competing with Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex, while also suing Apple and OpenAI separately over Grok’s app store rankings.

The ongoing crossfire shows neither executive is willing to let the other control the narrative, keeping their platforms locked in an ongoing rivalry. 

Source: Elon Musk and Sam Altman spar on X after Apple files OpenAI lawsuit