‘Elon is obsessed with me again’: Sam Altman hits back as Musk invokes Apple lawsuit against OpenAI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX chief Elon Musk are once again quarrelling on social media after the launch of the latest ChatGPT model. The latest standoff came shortly after OpenAI released its GPT-5.6 series of AI models, which it claims are not its most advanced to date but perhaps among the best in the industry.

Altman, while taking a dig at Musk on X (formerly Twitter), said that while there are many benchmarks to prove GPT-5.6 Sol is currently the best model out there, the most reliable indicator is perhaps that Musk is attacking him once again.

“There are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 Sol is the best model in the world right now, but the most reliable way to tell is that Elon is obsessed with me again,” Altman wrote.

Notably, shortly after the GPT-5.6 launch, Musk once again began reposting memes targeting Altman, calling him "Scam Altman". The SpaceX chief also began sharing material on his social media accounts portraying Grok 4.5 as one of the leading AI models in the world.

“Homeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” Altman wrote in reply to one of Musk's posts.

Altman was taking a jab at SpaceX's plans to launch as many as one million AI datacentres in space, which was a major part of the company's pitch to investors ahead of its IPO last month.

Musk, however, did not take the jab lying down and said that SpaceX will start flying them next year, while repeating his claim that Altman stole a charity, referring to OpenAI's non-profit arm. The billionaire also claimed that Altman stole Apple's technology, hinting at the fresh lawsuit filed by the iPhone maker this week.

“We start flying them next year. Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves. After stealing an open source AI charity, you then stole all of Apple’s phone technology! Wow. What do you plan for an encore? That’s tough to beat,” wrote Musk.

Apple files lawsuit against OpenAI

In the lawsuit filed this week, Apple accused the ChatGPT maker of stealing trade secrets to support its efforts to develop AI hardware. The lawsuit, filed in a California federal court, alleges that OpenAI and two former Apple employees engaged in a coordinated effort to misappropriate confidential information related to Apple's hardware development.

The company also claims that OpenAI benefited from stolen proprietary information, calling the alleged theft part of a "coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level."

The lawsuit names two former Apple employees as defendants:

Tang Tan, a longtime Apple executive who helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod, and now serves as OpenAI's Chief Hardware Officer.

Chang Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer who joined OpenAI earlier this year.

Apple claims both employees improperly accessed confidential company information after moving to OpenAI. The company alleges Liu downloaded sensitive hardware files using an Apple-issued device that he retained after leaving the company.

The lawsuit also claims Tan instructed job candidates who were still employed at Apple to bring "actual parts" from Apple to interviews at OpenAI.