Elon Musk fired back on Saturday at Sam Altman’s viral complaint about a Tesla Roadster refund, claiming the OpenAI CEO received his money back within 24 hours and deliberately omitted that fact.
Altman’s post Thursday evening, titled “A tale in three acts,” showed email correspondence revealing a $45,000 reservation deposit placed in July 2018, followed by a recent refund request that bounced back as undeliverable.
The post garnered over a dozen million views.
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” Altman wrote in a follow-up.
On Saturday, Musk responded to Altman’s post.
“You stole a non-profit,” followed by a second post claiming Altman “forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that is in your nature.”
Reacting to a post on X where a user joked “911, I’d like to report a murder,” Musk replied briefly with a laughing emoji.
Timing Raises Questions
Altman’s complaint came just days after Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen confirmed an unveil event for the new Roadster remains scheduled for later this year.
Additionally, it came less than 24 hours before Musk hinted during the Joe Rogan podcast that the new Roadster will have flying capabilities.
Tesla also posted a job listing this week for a Manufacturing Engineer focused specifically on Roadster battery development, signaling renewed activity on the long-delayed sports car that has become emblematic of the company’s ambitious promises and subsequent delays.
Altman requested a $50,000 refund in his email—$5,000 more than the $45,000 he paid in 2018.
Latest Chapter in Bitter Rivalry
The Roadster spat marks the latest salvo in an escalating feud between two of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures, whose relationship has deteriorated markedly since Musk departed OpenAI’s board in 2018 amid potential conflicts with Tesla‘s AI initiatives.
Musk has repeatedly referred to Altman as “Scam Altman” on X, the social media platform he acquired for $44 billion in 2022.
In August, when screenshots showed ChatGPT declining to write arguments favoring Donald Trump while providing responses supporting Kamala Harris, Musk wrote: “Scam Altman lies as easily as he breathes.”
When Altman accused Musk of manipulating X “to benefit himself and his own companies and harm competitors,” Musk responded: “The immensity of the irony of Scam Altman complaining about ‘suppression’ on this platform while simultaneously getting millions of views is too much to bear.”
Legal Warfare Intensifies
The personal attacks unfold against a backdrop of aggressive litigation.
Musk filed a lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI in February 2024, accusing the company of violating its nonprofit mission through its Microsoft partnership. He withdrew the suit in June, only to refile in August.
In November 2024, Musk’s lawyers filed an injunction to halt OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit structure. OpenAI dismissed the motion as “utterly without merit.”
“For a long time, I looked up to him as an incredible hero, a great jewel for humanity. I have different feelings now,” Altman told former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson in September.
“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 added.
OpenAI’s Transformation Complete
The timing of Altman’s Roadster post is particularly notable given that OpenAI announced Tuesday it had completed its restructuring into a for-profit entity—the very transformation Musk has fought to prevent.
Under the new structure, OpenAI’s nonprofit arm, OpenAI Foundation, now oversees a new public benefit corporation, OpenAI Group PBC.
The company is preparing to go public at a potential $1 trillion valuation, according to Reuters— making it the world’s most valuable private company ahead of Musk’s SpaceX.
Last January, responding to Reuters reporting that OpenAI planned to grant Altman equity, Musk escalated his rhetoric: “Altman literally testified to Congress that he wouldn’t get OpenAI compensation and now he wants $10 billion! What a liar.”
