Advertisement
Tech

‘Cannot be trusted’: Why Elon Musk and his right-wing allies are attacking Sam Altman on X

After Trump allowed Altman to join the $500 billion AI project ‘Stargate,’ Musk has increased his attacks.

Photo of Nate Wolf

Nate Wolf

X (formally Twitter) logos cover Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. A photo of Elon Musk is behind him.
Shutterstock/Twitter (Licensed)

Elon Musk reignited his years-long feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this week, firing off a series of X posts and retweets bashing Altman for finessing his way into President Donald Trump’s good graces. 

Featured Video

The latest spat began after Altman joined Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison in a White House ceremony on Tuesday to announce the launch of Stargate, a $500 billion venture to advance the United States’ artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

Musk — whose animosity toward Altman seemingly supersedes his deference to Trump — tried to discredit the project right off the bat. 

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on X. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

Advertisement

After initially ignoring the jab and calling Musk “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our team,” Altman punched back. 

“this is great for the country,” he claimed. “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 🇺🇸 first.” 

Advertisement

The pair’s rivalry goes back to Trump’s first term, before either of them were so heavily involved in politics. As the Associated Press reported last month, Musk was an investor and board member at OpenAI and vied against Altman to become the company’s CEO in 2017. 

Musk strongly opposed Altman’s move to convert OpenAI from a non-profit lab into a for-profit venture, eventually suing the company for allegedly abandoning its founding mission. 

The pair have exchanged barbs on occasion in recent years, but Musk’s growing influence in right-wing politics has given him an army of online conservatives to fight an otherwise obscure battle about the future of generative AI. 

Right-wing commentator Mike Cernovich was the biggest name to jump to Musk’s side on Wednesday. 

Advertisement

“Sam Altman is a far left wing radical who spent untold amounts of money to frame Trump and backed the coups,” Cernovich wrote in a post on X, citing Altman’s convenient change of heart on Trump. 

Cernovich also dug up Altman’s praise for his mentor Reid Hoffman, the tech entrepreneur and Democratic donor who reportedly had a personal relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Musk shared one of the many posts about Hoffman and added his trademark “True,” racking up more than 18 million views. 

Altman made matters worse for himself after the entrepreneur professed his newfound appreciation for Trump on Wednesday night, writing, “i think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!”

“I wish he would change his perspective on you,” responded one Trump supporter, garnering 12,000 likes. 

Advertisement

“Sam Altman cannot be trusted,” another Trump backer and self-professed Tesla investor wrote. “My intuition tells me this guy should be nowhere near AI. This will not end well.”

Others online were content sitting back and watching the nerds argue. 

“Babe wake up, the movie just got even better!” read one post featuring the ubiquitous meme of Michael Jackson eating popcorn. 

Luckily for those enjoying the show, Musk and Altman’s spat may not be over just yet. 

Advertisement

“just one more mean tweet and then maybe you’ll love yourself…” Altman wrote in a good, old-fashioned subtweet this morning. As of Thursday afternoon, Musk is yet to reply. 


Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.

Advertisement
 
The Daily Dot