OpenAI accuses Elon Musk of harassment, smear campaign over lawsuit
Follow UsElon Musk has been targeting Sam Altman and OpenAI with a series of strong allegations.
In response, OpenAI has published a blog post countering Musk's claims.
'Scam Altman didn’t tell the OpenAI board that he OWNED the OpenAI Startup Fund,' Musk posted on X.
The rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman is heating up. The two are facing off in a trial that began on Monday and is linked to Musk’s 2024 lawsuit against OpenAI. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI has moved away from its original mission of building AI for humanity and is now more focused on profits.
SurveyAt the same time, Musk has been commenting on the issue on X (formerly Twitter), targeting Altman and OpenAI with a series of strong allegations. In response, OpenAI has published a blog post countering Musk’s claims, accusing him of harassment and running a smear campaign.
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What Elon Musk has posted
Musk has been taking aim at Altman with serious accusations. In one post, he wrote, ‘Scam Altman didn’t tell the OpenAI board that he OWNED the OpenAI Startup Fund.’ ‘Altman lied in congressional testimony that he didn’t have financial gain from OpenAI.’
In another post, he said, ‘Scam Altman owned the OpenAI Startup fund while simultaneously lying to the world that he didn’t financially benefit from OpenAI.’
He didn’t stop there. Musk also claimed, ‘Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop.’ He followed it up by saying, ‘Greg got tens of billions of stock for himself and Scam got dozens of OpenAI side deals with a piece of the action for himself, Y Combinator style. After this lawsuit, Scam will also be awarded tens of billions in stock directly.’
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What OpenAI said
OpenAI has strongly pushed back against Musk’s claims. In its blogpost, the AI company said that Musk’s actions are driven by personal motives. It wrote, ‘Motivated by jealousy, regret for walking away from OpenAI and a desire to derail a competing AI company, Elon has spent years harassing OpenAI through baseless lawsuits and public attacks.’
According to OpenAI’s post, there is also evidence suggesting he coordinated with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in attempts to undermine OpenAI.
OpenAI further clarified that both sides had once agreed that a for-profit structure was necessary to raise the massive funding needed for AI development. It also claimed that Musk demanded full control of the company and even proposed merging it with Tesla, which OpenAI rejected.
‘When we wouldn’t agree to his terms, he walked away and told us we had a 0% chance of success. He turned out to be wrong though, and a resentful Elon has attacked OpenAI ever since,’ OpenAI said.
