Elon Musk's 'Harsh' Source of Discontent Towards Sam Altman

On the first day of his second term under Mr. Trump, Elon Musk was at the White House when he unexpectedly received news that his opponent was about to hold a press conference with the President of the United States. Musk turns on the TV and witnesses OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, glowing alongside Trump promoting a $500 billion investment in the AI infrastructure named Stargate. According to WSJ sources, although Musk has almost always been accompanying or keeping in touch with Trump during the campaign months, he was surprised by this announcement. Common point from the first meeting What makes Tesla's CEO feel most deeply hurt is Altman's success in 'stepping' into Mr. Trump's world, through a carefully arranged series of meetings in Palm Beach and phone calls with the White House. In other words, this plan has been kept secret from the "best friend" of the US president. Altman, Musk co-founded the non-profit research organization OpenAI in 2015, with tens of millions of USD in funding from Musk. For many years, Altman relied on Musk's reputation and finances to lead OpenAI to success. Both have built a "alliance" to prevent Google's dominance in the artificial intelligence race (AI). However, as times change, Musk has declared war on Altman and OpenAI itself. In many ways, Sam Altman is (39 years old) and Elon Musk is (53 years old), they couldn't be more different. While Musk was beaten and bullied as a child, Altman was a model child, constantly reminded by his parents that he could become anything he wanted. Elon Musk often behaves rudely, while Altman tends to say what others want to hear. If Musk is an engineer, passionate about details in rocket and battery design, Altman is a contrarian, obsessed with technology, with a broad understanding of philosophy, science, and literature, while also writing essays on social organization. However, both Elon Musk and Sam Altman share a notable interest: Power. The connection between Musk and Altman is Geoff Ralston, a partner at Y Combinator. This is the famous startup incubator, which has supported Altman's first company - a location-based social network called Loopt. At that time, Altman had just sold Loopt and didn't know whether to start a new company or continue investing. Meanwhile, Musk's SpaceX had developed a commercial spacecraft capable of picking up cargo from the space station and returning to Earth. Different contexts, but both quickly found common ground. Musk is becoming increasingly concerned as AI advances too quickly. According to the lawsuit, the billionaire's fear stems from a 2012 meeting with Demis Hassabis, co-founder of the AI company DeepMind, who "emphasized the hidden dangers that AI's progress poses to society". Similar to Musk, Altman is also concerned about the danger of AI. In February 2015, he wrote that AI "might be the biggest threat to the continued existence of humanity". Since then, Musk and Altman have frequently been in touch to discuss AI. In March 2015, Altman asked for Musk's opinion on writing a letter to the US government regarding this technology. 2 months later, Altman emailed Musk, proposing to start a project specializing in AI at Y Combinator, called the "Manhattan Project". Both worked with the new AI lab, which Musk called OpenAI. Elon Musk's ambition to acquire OpenAI In an email, Altman proposed that Musk and ( sit on a 5-member council) to govern the non-profit organization. He suggested waiting for more time to send a letter calling for AI governance before the formal operation, and Musk agreed. In 2015, OpenAI launched with funding that could reach over 1 billion USD from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and some other investors. Musk once held the position of co-chairman of the AI research group and participated in project decisions to train the system using posts on Reddit. By early 2018, speaking to co-founder Sam Altman, Elon Musk said that OpenAI was lagging behind Google. Therefore, Musk proposed a solution that he would take over the leadership at OpenAI and personally fund the company's operation. However, many OpenAI leaders, including co-founders Greg Brockman and Sam Altman, did not accept Elon Musk's buyback request. This is the reason why the billionaire left the OpenAI board in 2018, while also withdrawing a pre-determined huge investment. In the next few years, OpenAI will continue to quietly focus on research. On 30/11/2022, the company introduced a new product called ChatGPT. This is an early demo of what can be, although there are still many limitations. This is really just a research release," Altman wrote on X. The research release quickly became one of the most successful consumer technology products and had the greatest impact of the century, along with iPhone, Facebook, and TikTok. While the world is still surprised that AI has become a major trend, Elon Musk has begun publicly criticizing OpenAI for developing too quickly and no longer focusing on safety. The billionaire even signed an open letter calling for a temporary halt to AI development for 6 months. In 2024, Musk officially attacked Altman on a new front: the Court. After suing OpenAI and Altman in February 2024, Musk withdrew the lawsuit in June, refiled in August, and amended in November 2024. The main content of Musk's lawsuit accuses Altman of violating the original agreement that OpenAI would prioritize public interest over profit. Musk has since become a formidable obstacle to Altman. His hatred for someone who used to be his "apprentice" has spread to the point that even those close to Trump are cautious when passing on Altman's demands.