Sam Altman responds to Elon Musk’s ‘you stole a non-profit’ remark: ‘You wanted Tesla to…’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has responded to the allegations levelled by Elon Musk about the stealing of a non-profit, a veiled claim over the transitioning of OpenAI to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC). In his reply, Altman reiterated OpenAI's claim that Musk wanted Tesla to take over the ChatGPT maker and had said that the startup had a "0% chance" of success.

​Responding to Musk in a post on X, Altman wrote, "i helped turn the thing you left for dead into what should be the largest non-profit ever. You know as well as anyone a structure like what openai has now is required to make that happen."

​“You also wanted Tesla to take OpenAI over, no non-profit at all. And you said we had a 0% chance of success. Now you have a great AI company and so do we. Can't we all just move on?”

​While Musk and Altman have taken potshots at each other, the current argument began after the OpenAI CEO had posted a screenshot of his order for the Tesla Roadster that he had made in 2017. Altman complained that his email for cancellation of the initial order and refund of the $50,000 token money did not elicit a response from the world's biggest electric carmaker.

​Meanwhile, Musk also dismissed the claims made by Altman and said that the refund was processed within 24 hours while essentially accusing him of lying.

​Musk also went on to promote the Roadster during his appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast, saying that the company is planning to demonstrate the prototype later in the year and stating that “one thing I can guarantee is that this product demo will be unforgettable…Whether it's good or bad, it will be unforgettable.”

​Elon Musk vs OpenAI:

​Musk had started OpenAI along with Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and others. While the billionaire was among the first backers of the AI startup, he was trying to pitch it against the dominance of Google in the burgeoning field.

​However, Musk soon started having differences of opinion with the team and then finally went on to depart the startup in 2018.

​Musk was silent about the startup for a few years before OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022. After that, Musk regularly criticized the startup for giving up the mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity in favour of a maximum profit-seeking intention.

​The billionaire also filed multiple lawsuits against OpenAI, the most recent one being where Musk accused Apple of giving priority to ChatGPT in its app store ranking.