OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is calling rival Elon Musk insecure and not a happy person in a new interview.
Altman's thoughts on Musk came out in questioning about Musk joining a group offering $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. He outright rejected Musk's offer.
OpenAI is the nonprofit that created ChatGPT.
In an interview on Bloomberg Altman said of Musk's possible rationale for the unsolicited bid, "I think he's just trying to slow us down."
Altman then went on to question Musk's state of mind.
"Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity, I feel for the guy," Altman said. "I don't think he's, like, a happy person. I do feel for him."
“I wish he would just compete by building a better product,” Sam Altman says of @elonmusk in an interview with @TomMackenzieTV.
— annmarie hordern (@annmarie) February 11, 2025
“Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity, I feel for the guy... I don't think he's, like, a happy person.” pic.twitter.com/YhUmmW5iNe
When news of the buyout offer became public on Monday, Altman countered with his own offer.
"No thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," Altman wrote on X.
no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want
— Sam Altman (@sama) February 10, 2025
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in 2022 and later renamed it X. He replied to Altman's post by simply writing: "Swindler."
The war of words is the latest in a long rivalry between the two tech billionaires. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but left to form his own artificial intelligence company (xAI) in 2023.
Musk has filed numerous lawsuits against OpenAI.
Musk has become a powerful ally of President Donald Trump and is spending time looking to cut government costs and budgets as director of DOGE.
