OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls Elon Musk a bully

Sam Altman also claimed that it was Musk who wanted OpenAI to be a for-profit organisation at one point [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called rival Elon Musk a “bully,” during an episode of the Bari Weiss podcast where he was discussing the ChatGPT-maker’s feud with the Tesla CEO and billionaire.

Though he initially praised Musk as an entrepreneur, Altman later referred to Musk as a bully and pointed out that he fought with other tech leaders, apart from having xAI compete directly with OpenAI.

“He’s also clearly a bully, and he’s also someone who clearly likes to get in fights. Right now, it’s me. It’s been Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg, lots of other people. And I think fundamentally, this is about OpenAI doing really well. Elon cares about doing really well,” said Altman.

However, Altman also claimed that it was Musk who once wanted OpenAI to be a for-profit organisation.

“But it was Elon that most wanted OpenAI to be a for-profit at one point, and had made a bunch of proposals—like OpenAI being part of Tesla—mostly just to create a new for-profit that he was going to be in control of,” he said during the podcast.

OpenAI and Musk are currently locked in a legal feud, with the Tesla CEO and billionaire claiming that OpenAI no longer adheres to its founding principles of doing good for humanity.

Musk’s own AI company, xAI, recently made its Grok chatbot accessible to even non-paying users on the social media platform X. His close proximity to president-elect Donald Trump also raises questions about how Musk will fairly compete with other AI leaders.