OpenAI founder Sam Altman hit back at his former collaborator, Elon Musk, in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, just a month before the company completed a billion-dollar restructuring process. The tech leader started the innovative company back in 2015, alongside Elon and a handful of investors, with the clear goal of advancing “digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.”
OpenAI has now completed its restructure with the help of Microsoft, which will see the company move away from its nonprofit roots towards a more public market presence, making it more susceptible to the control of investors. OpenAI is now worth $500 billion, making it the most valuable private company in the world.
Elon initially invested in OpenAI in 2015, before leaving the company in 2018 and going on to create a competitor, xAI, which he launched in 2023. “For a long time, I looked up to him as an incredible hero, a great jewel for humanity. I have different feelings now,” Sam told Tucker in the interview.
“There are things about him that are incredible, and I’m grateful for a lot of things he’s done. There’s a lot of things about him that I think are traits I don’t admire,” he said, adding that Elon left the company because he didn’t believe it was on a “trajectory to be successful”.
“Then, we did okay. I think he got understandably upset. I would feel bad in that situation,” Sam quipped. OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, boasts 800 million weekly users, and its app has been downloaded 411 million times in 2025 alone. The Tesla CEO claimed in March 2023 that he had given $100 million to OpenAI in investments, however, the company refuted this and shared that his contributions were closer to $45 million.
© Getty ImagesSam founded OpenAI in 2015
Elon subsequently sued OpenAI in February 2024, claiming that the company had “abandoned its non-profit mission of developing AGI for the benefit of humanity”. He wrote on his social media platform, X, “Change your name to ClosedAI and I will drop the lawsuit.”
© Getty ImagesElon was an early investor in OpenAI
The father of 14 withdrew the suit in June, before refiling it two months later, with his lawyers writing, “The perfidy and deceit are of Shakespearean proportions.” While Elon’s falling out with Donald Trump made headlines around the world, Sam worked to create a close relationship with the businessman.
© Getty Images for Vanity FairThe pair are engaged in an ongoing feud
He initially spoke out against Donald ahead of the 2016 election, yet shared on X in January that “watching [him] more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him…I’m not going to agree with him on everything, but I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!”
© Alamy Stock PhotoElon previously supported Donald Trump before their fallout
Meanwhile, Elon began 2025 as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and by mid-year, had stepped down from the position and criticized Donald for his One Big Beautiful Bill, which he claimed would “burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt”.