Altman Targets Roadster: "Seven-Year Delivery Delay and Refund Refusal Revealed"
Musk Responds: "Refund Issued Within 24 Hours"
Musk Filed Lawsuit Against OpenAI Earlier This Year
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI-who previously clashed over the commercialization of OpenAI-have once again engaged in a public war of words. After CEO Altman criticized Musk for “neglecting OpenAI to death,” Musk fired back, saying, “You stole a non-profit.”
The latest dispute was triggered by issues surrounding the reservation deposit for Tesla’s supercar, the Roadster. CEO Altman revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that he had paid $45,000 in 2018 to reserve the next-generation Roadster, but delivery had been delayed for over seven years, and his email requesting a $50,000 refund was returned. CEO Musk had announced the second-generation Roadster in 2017, promising a 2020 launch, but the release has been delayed for more than five years.
In response, CEO Musk stated, “You forgot to mention that the issue was resolved and you received your refund within 24 hours. But that’s your nature,” accusing Altman of distorting the facts. He then posted, “You stole a non-profit,” criticizing OpenAI’s transition to a for-profit structure.
CEO Altman did not back down. He responded, “I helped turn the company you neglected into the world’s largest non-profit,” and added, “The current structure of OpenAI made that possible.” He also said, “You wanted Tesla to acquire OpenAI in the past, but that was completely inconsistent with the non-profit mission. At the time, you said our chance of success was zero percent, but now both you and we have great AI companies. Let’s move on.”
CEO Musk and CEO Altman co-founded the non-profit AI research organization OpenAI in 2015. However, after CEO Musk left the board in 2018 and founded the competing company xAI in 2023, their relationship deteriorated rapidly.
After OpenAI’s explosive growth following the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, CEO Musk publicly criticized the organization, saying its open-source and non-profit principles had disappeared and that it had become a closed, profit-driven company controlled by Microsoft. Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Altman, claiming that the transition from a non-profit to a for-profit entity was fraudulent and violated the founding mission.
Meanwhile, OpenAI completed its restructuring into a for-profit business in October. The non-profit division was renamed the OpenAI Foundation and now holds equity in the for-profit entity worth approximately $130 billion. OpenAI stated, “This will become one of the most well-resourced charitable organizations in history,” adding that the for-profit division, OpenAI Group PBC, will also collaborate under the same mission.
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