OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reacted to Elon Musk’s comments that the ChatGPT maker will “eat Microsoft alive.” In the immediate aftermath of OpenAI’s GPT-5 launch, Musk had gone on to state xAI’s Grok-4’s supremacy over the new model, followed by a warning to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella over the partnership with OpenAI.
In an interaction with CNBC, Altman was asked what he thought about the remarks made by Musk.
“You know I don’t think about him that much,” Altman retorted.
Asked about what he thinks of the idea that OpenAI will eat Microsoft alive, Altman replied, I thought he was just, like, tweeting all day about how much OpenAI sucks, and our model is bad, and, you know, we’re not gonna be a good company and all that. I don’t know how you square up two things.
This is not the first time Altman has reacted so sharply to Musk’s comments. In an interaction earlier in the year, Altman said he didn’t think Musk was a happy person.
“Elon’s whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy. I do actually. I don’t think he’s a happy person,” the OpenAI CEO said.
Meanwhile, Nadella had also responded to Musk’s tweet, writing, People have been trying for 50 years and that’s the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5!
Musk and OpenAI’s rocky history:
Notably, Musk and OpenAI go a long way back, with the billionaire being among the co-founders of the non-profit research lab in 2015. In the intervening years, disagreements grew between the co-founders on how to lead the company, and Musk eventually resigned from the OpenAI board in 2018.
In due time, Microsoft became a major backer of OpenAI, and the company tasted widespread success right from its first public AI model launch in late 2022.
Musk went on to found his own AI startup, xAI, which develops the Grok AI chatbot but continued to level allegations against OpenAI and its founders. The billionaire has also filed multiple lawsuits against OpenAI, one of which also includes Microsoft, claiming that OpenAI has breached its fundamental contract by taking in billions of dollars in funding to develop AI for profit rather than for the benefit of humanity.
