A day after saying “no thanks” to a nearly $100 billion acquisition offer from a consortium led by Elon Musk, CEO Sam Altman shared his thoughts on his rival, insisting that OpenAI is not for sale.

“Elon has been trying everything for a long time… I think he probably just wants to slow us down,” Altman told Bloomberg TV while attending the Paris AI Action Summit on February 11.

Musk's surprise offer is expected to make OpenAI's restructuring plans much more difficult and costly.

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Elon Musk (right) and Sam Altman co-founded OpenAI, but Musk left in 2018. Photo: FT

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman and several other entrepreneurs, has long had tensions with Altman, filing multiple lawsuits against OpenAI and Altman, claiming the company has gone against its founding principles.

OpenAI is governed by a nonprofit board that controls a legal entity called OpenAI LP. OpenAI LP is a for-profit company that exists within the larger company.

It was this entity that took OpenAI from zero to a $100 billion valuation in just a few years. Altman is considered the brains behind and the key to OpenAI's success.

Musk has founded his own AI company, xAI, to compete with OpenAI.

“I wish he would just compete by making a better product, but I think there have been a lot of tactics. A lot of, a lot of lawsuits, all that crazy stuff and now this. We’re going to try to stay focused and keep working,” he said.

Asked if Musk was against OpenAI because he felt insecure, Altman agreed.

“He was probably insecure all his life. I feel sorry for him. I don’t think he’s a happy person,” the OpenAI CEO replied.

Altman said he wasn’t worried because Musk was high up in the Trump administration, but admitted he probably should be. “I just try to wake up and think about how we can make our technology better.”

The Musk – Altman War

Musk first sued OpenAI in June 2024, but dropped the case after developer ChatGPT published some of Musk's emails from the company's early days on its blog.

The email appears to show Musk admitting the company needs large sums of money to fund the computing resources needed for its AI ambitions, contrary to his lawsuit.

Musk filed another lawsuit in August 2024, accusing OpenAI of racing to develop general artificial intelligence to “maximize profits.” Musk also accused the company he co-founded of engaging in fraud.

Meanwhile, OpenAI accused Musk of being jealous of no longer being involved with the startup, after he left in 2018 after unsuccessful attempts to convince the other co-founders to sell OpenAI to Tesla.

Altman rejected Musk’s argument that OpenAI was abandoning its nonprofit roots, insisting that nonprofits would continue to play a key role in driving the company’s mission.

(According to CNN)