Elon Musk and Sam Altman's AI Feud Escalates: Legal Threats, Public Spats, and App Store Controversy

A brief history of Elon Musk and Sam Altman's AI feud

Much attention was paid to OpenAI's Sam Altman and xAI's Elon Musk trading barbs on X this week after Musk threatened to sue Apple over supposedly biased App Store rankings privileging ChatGPT over Grok. But while the heated social media exchanges were among the most tense ever seen between the two former partners who cofounded OpenAI -- more on that below -- it seems likely that their jabs were motivated less by who's in the lead on Apple's "Must Have" app list than by an impending order in a lawsuit that landed in the middle of their public beefing. Yesterday, a court ruled that OpenAI can proceed with claims that Musk was so incredibly stung by OpenAI's success after his exit didn't doom the nascent AI company that he perpetrated a "years-long harassment campaign" to take down OpenAI. Musk's motivation? To clear the field for xAI to dominate the AI industry instead, OpenAI alleged. OpenAI's accusations arose as counterclaims in a lawsuit that Musk initially filed in 2024. Musk has alleged that Altman and OpenAI had made a "fool" of Musk, goading him into $44 million in donations by "preying on Musk's humanitarian concern about the existential dangers posed by artificial intelligence." But OpenAI insists that Musk's lawsuit is just one prong in a sprawling, "unlawful," and "unrelenting" harassment campaign that Musk waged to harm OpenAI's business by forcing the company to divert resources or expend money on things like withdrawn legal claims and fake buyouts. "Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed," OpenAI argued. "He made it his project to take down OpenAI, and to build a direct competitor that would seize the technological lead -- not for humanity but for Elon Musk." Most significantly, OpenAI alleged that Musk forced OpenAI to entertain a "sham" bid to buy the company in February. Musk then shared details of the bid with The Wall Street Journal to artificially raise the price of OpenAI and potentially spook investors, OpenAI alleged. The company further said that Musk never intended to buy OpenAI and is willing to go to great lengths to mislead the public about OpenAI's business so he can chip away at OpenAI's head start in releasing popular generative AI products. "Musk has tried every tool available to harm OpenAI," Altman's company said. To this day, Musk maintains that Altman pretended that OpenAI would remain a nonprofit serving the public good in order to seize access to Musk's money and professional connections in its first five years and gain a lead in AI. As Musk sees it, Altman always intended to "betray" these promises in pursuit of personal gains, and Musk is hoping a court will return any ill-gotten gains to Musk and xAI. In a small win for Musk, the court ruled that OpenAI will have to wait until the first phase of the trial litigating Musk's claims concludes before the court will weigh OpenAI's theories on Musk's alleged harassment campaign. US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers noted that all of OpenAI's counterclaims occurred after the period in which Musk's claims about a supposed breach of contract occurred, necessitating a division of the lawsuit into two parts. Currently, the jury trial is scheduled for March 30, 2026, presumably after which, OpenAI's claims can be resolved. If yesterday's X clash between the billionaires is any indication, it seems likely that tensions between Altman and Musk will only grow as discovery and expert testimony on Musk's claims proceed through December. Whether OpenAI will prevail on its counterclaims is anybody's guess. Gonzalez Rogers noted that Musk and OpenAI have been hypocritical in arguments raised so far, condemning the "gamesmanship of both sides" as "obvious, as each flip flops." However, "for the purposes of pleading an unfair or fraudulent business practice, it is sufficient [for OpenAI] to allege that the bid was a sham and designed to mislead," Gonzalez Rogers said, since OpenAI has alleged the sham bid "ultimately did" harm its business. In April, OpenAI told the court that the AI company risks "future irreparable harm" if Musk's alleged campaign continues. Fast-forward to now, and Musk's legal threat to OpenAI's partnership with Apple seems to be the next possible front Musk may be exploring to allegedly harass Altman and intimidate OpenAI. "With every month that has passed, Musk has intensified and expanded the fronts of his campaign against OpenAI," OpenAI argued. Musk "has proven himself willing to take ever more dramatic steps to seek a competitive advantage for xAI and to harm Altman, whom, in the words of the President of the United States, Musk 'hates.'" Tensions escalate as Musk brands Altman a "liar" On Monday evening, Musk threatened to sue Apple for supposedly favoring ChatGPT in App Store rankings, which he claimed was "an unequivocal antitrust violation." Seemingly defending Apple later that night, Altman called Musk's claim "remarkable," claiming he's heard allegations that Musk manipulates "X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." At 4 am on Tuesday, Musk appeared to lose his cool, firing back a post that sought to exonerate the X owner of any claims that he tweaks his social platform to favor his own posts. "You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I've received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!" Musk responded. Altman apparently woke up ready to keep the fight going, suggesting that his post got more views as a fluke. He mocked X as running into a "skill issue" or "bots" messing with Musk's alleged agenda to boost his posts above everyone else. Then, in what may be the most explosive response to Musk yet, Altman dared Musk to double down on his defense, asking, "Will you sign an affidavit that you have never directed changes to the X algorithm in a way that has hurt your competitors or helped your own companies? I will apologize if so." Court filings from each man's legal team show how fast their friendship collapsed. But even as Musk's alleged harassment campaign started taking shape, their social media interactions show that underlying the legal battles and AI ego wars, the tech billionaires are seemingly hiding profound respect for -- and perhaps jealousy of -- each other's accomplishments. A brief history of Musk and Altman's feud Musk and Altman's friendship started over dinner in July 2015. That's when Musk agreed to help launch "an AGI project that could become and stay competitive with DeepMind, an AI company under the umbrella of Google," OpenAI's filing said. At that time, Musk feared that a private company like Google would never be motivated to build AI to serve the public good. The first clash between Musk and Altman happened six months later. Altman wanted OpenAI to be formed as a nonprofit, but Musk thought that was not "optimal," OpenAI's filing said. Ultimately, Musk was overruled, and he joined the nonprofit as a "member" while also becoming co-chair of OpenAI's board. But perhaps the first major disagreement, as Musk tells it, came in 2016, when Altman and Microsoft struck a deal to sell compute to OpenAI at a "steep discount" -- "so long as the non-profit agreed to publicly promote Microsoft's products." Musk rejected the "marketing ploy," telling Altman that "this actually made me feel nauseous." Next, OpenAI claimed that Musk had a "different idea" in 2017 when OpenAI "began considering an organizational change that would allow supporters not just to donate, but to invest." Musk wanted "sole control of the new for-profit," OpenAI alleged, and he wanted to be CEO. The other founders, including Altman, "refused to accept" an "AGI dictatorship" that was "dominated by Musk." "Musk was incensed," OpenAI said, threatening to leave OpenAI over the disagreement, "or I'm just being a fool who is essentially providing free funding for you to create a startup." But Musk floated one more idea between 2017 and 2018 before severing ties -- offering to sell OpenAI to Tesla so that OpenAI could use Tesla as a "cash cow." But Altman and the other founders still weren't comfortable with Musk controlling OpenAI, rejecting the idea and prompting Musk's exit. In his filing, Musk tells the story a little differently, however. He claimed that he only "briefly toyed with the idea of using Tesla as OpenAI's 'cash cow'" after Altman and others pressured him to agree to a for-profit restructuring. According to Musk, among the last straws was a series of "get-rich-quick schemes" that Altman proposed to raise funding, including pushing a strategy where OpenAI would launch a cryptocurrency that Musk worried threatened the AI company's credibility. When Musk left OpenAI, it was "noisy but relatively amicable," OpenAI claimed. But Musk continued to express discomfort from afar, still donating to OpenAI as Altman grabbed the CEO title in 2019 and created a capped-profit entity that Musk seemed to view as shady. "Musk asked Altman to make clear to others that he had 'no financial interest in the for-profit arm of OpenAI,'" OpenAI noted, and Musk confirmed he issued the demand "with evident displeasure." Although they often disagreed, Altman and Musk continued to publicly play nice on Twitter (the platform now known as X), casually chatting for years about things like movies, space, and science, including repeatedly joking about Musk's posts about using drugs like Ambien. By 2019, it seemed like none of these disagreements had seriously disrupted the friendship. For example, at that time, Altman defended Musk against people rooting against Tesla's success, writing that "betting against Elon is historically a mistake" and seemingly hyping Tesla by noting that "the best product usually wins." The niceties continued into 2021, when Musk publicly praised "nice work by OpenAI" integrating its coding model into GitHub's AI tool. "It is hard to do useful things," Musk said, drawing a salute emoji from Altman. This was seemingly the end of Musk playing nice with OpenAI, though. Soon after ChatGPT's release in November 2022, Musk allegedly began his attacks, seemingly willing to change his tactics on a whim. First, he allegedly deemed OpenAI "irrelevant," predicting it would "obviously" fail. Then, he started sounding alarms, joining a push for a six-month pause on generative AI development. Musk specifically claimed that any model "more advanced than OpenAI's just-released GPT-4" posed "profound risks to society and humanity," OpenAI alleged, seemingly angling to pause OpenAI's development in particular. However, in the meantime, Musk started "quietly building a competitor," xAI, without announcing those efforts in March 2023, OpenAI alleged. Allegedly preparing to hobble OpenAI's business after failing with the moratorium push, Musk had his personal lawyer contact OpenAI and demand "access to OpenAI's confidential and commercially sensitive internal documents." Musk claimed the request was to "ensure OpenAI was not being taken advantage of or corrupted by Microsoft," but two weeks later, he appeared on national TV, insinuating that OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft was "improper," OpenAI alleged. Eventually, Musk announced xAI in July 2023, and that supposedly motivated Musk to deepen his harassment campaign, "this time using the courts and a parallel, carefully coordinated media campaign," OpenAI said, as well as his own social media platform. Musk "supercharges" X attacks As OpenAI's success mounted, the company alleged that Musk began specifically escalating his social media attacks on X, including broadcasting to his 224 million followers that "OpenAI is a house of cards" after filing his 2024 lawsuit. Claiming he felt conned, Musk also pressured regulators to probe OpenAI, encouraging attorneys general of California and Delaware to "force" OpenAI, "without legal basis, to auction off its assets for the benefit of Musk and his associates," OpenAI said. By 2024, Musk had "supercharged" his X attacks, unleashing a "barrage of invective against the enterprise and its leadership, variously describing OpenAI as a 'digital Frankenstein's monster,' 'a lie,' 'evil,' and 'a total scam,'" OpenAI alleged. These attacks allegedly culminated in Musk's seemingly fake OpenAI takeover attempt in 2025, which OpenAI claimed a Musk ally, Ron Baron, admitted on CNBC was "pitched to him" as not an attempt to actually buy OpenAI's assets, "but instead to obtain 'discovery' and get 'behind the wall' at OpenAI." All of this makes it harder for OpenAI to achieve the mission that Musk is supposedly suing to defend, OpenAI claimed. They told the court that "OpenAI has borne costs, and been harmed, by Musk's abusive tactics and unrelenting efforts to mislead the public for his own benefit and to OpenAI's detriment and the detriment of its mission." But Musk argues that it's Altman who always wanted sole control over OpenAI, accusing his former partner of rampant self-dealing and "locking down the non-profit's technology for personal gain" as soon as "OpenAI reached the threshold of commercially viable AI." He further claimed OpenAI blocked xAI funding by reportedly asking investors to avoid backing rival startups like Anthropic or xAI. Musk alleged: Altman alone stands to make billions from the non-profit Musk co-founded and invested considerable money, time, recruiting efforts, and goodwill in furtherance of its stated mission. Altman's scheme has now become clear: lure Musk with phony philanthropy; exploit his money, stature, and contacts to secure world-class AI scientists to develop leading technology; then feed the non-profit's lucrative assets into an opaque profit engine and proceed to cash in as OpenAI and Microsoft monopolize the generative AI market. For Altman, this week's flare-up, where he finally took a hard jab back at Musk on X, may be a sign that Altman is done letting Musk control the narrative on X after years of somewhat tepidly pushing back on Musk's more aggressive posts. In 2022, for example, Musk warned after ChatGPT's release that the chatbot was "scary good," warning that "we are not far from dangerously strong AI." Altman responded, cautiously agreeing that OpenAI was "dangerously" close to "strong AI in the sense of an AI that poses e.g. a huge cybersecurity risk" but "real" artificial general intelligence still seemed at least a decade off. And Altman gave no response when Musk used Grok's jokey programming to mock GPT-4 as "GPT-Snore" in 2024. However, Altman seemingly got his back up after Musk mocked OpenAI's $500 billion Stargate Project, which launched with the US government in January of this year. On X, Musk claimed that OpenAI doesn't "actually have the money" for the project, which Altman said was "wrong," while mockingly inviting Musk to visit the worksite. "This is great for the country," Altman said, retorting, "I realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role [at the Department of Government Efficiency], I hope you'll mostly put [America] first." It remains to be seen whether Altman wants to keep trading jabs with Musk, who is generally a huge fan of trolling on X. But Altman seems more emboldened this week than he was back in January before Musk's breakup with Donald Trump. Back then, even when he was willing to push back on Musk's Stargate criticism by insulting Musk's politics, he still took the time to let Musk know that he still cares. "I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time," Altman told Musk in January.

Apple Rejects Elon Musk's App Store Bias Claims. Is He Too Busy Fighting With Altman to Notice?

Apple is denying that it favors OpenAI in its App Store over other AI rivals. "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria," an Apple spokesperson tells the BBC, adding that the App Store is designed to be unbiased. The statement comes after Elon Musk tweeted that "Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation." He said his AI startup, xAI, "will take immediate legal action." (It's unclear if xAI has taken any legal action yet.) Musk then reposted various claims from other X users that Apple's deal with OpenAI is the reason the company is prioritizing ChatGPT across its App Store. He also claimed Apple is prioritizing OpenAI in its editorially controlled content. "Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either 𝕏 or Grok in your 'Must Have' section when 𝕏 is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?" he wrote. He followed it up by asking directly, "Why is ChatGPT literally in every list where you have editorial control?" His original tweet has since received the Community Notes treatment, with X users noting that China's DeepSeek topped the App Store in January, while Perplexity did the same in India's app store last month. "Both of these occurred after the OpenAI-Apple partnership [was] announced on June 10, 2024," the community note adds. As of Aug. 13, Apple's top free iPhone apps in the US show ChatGPT in the top spot with Grok in position six. The next AI service is Google Gemini at 45, followed by Microsoft 365 Copilot at 82. The debate has since devolved into an internet fight between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who stepped into the debate by tweeting: "This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." Altman points to claims of Musk tweaking X's algorithm in 2023. He cited a report from Platformer that says Musk asked the brand to show his tweets more regularly after President Biden's post about that year's Super Bowl did better than his. Musk responded with: "You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I've received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!" Musk also publicly agreed with X's Head of Product, who responded to Altman, saying, "Perhaps it is you who is manipulating your products to your benefit, by putting warnings on every link to a competitor?" He then showed a screenshot of ChatGPT's warning message for external links. The fight continued for hours, with the official ChatGPT X account eventually reposting a response from xAI's Grok that said, "Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes. Hypocrisy noted." Musk followed that up by posting a Grok screenshot of his own, which showed the chatbot determining that Musk is more trustworthy than Altman. Real mature stuff that I'm sure Apple is thrilled to be dragged into. Like what you're reading? Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Disclosure: Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.

Sam Altman and Elon Musk Trade Barbs Over Who Is More Full of Shit

In happier times, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk were buddies and business partners, but their bromance notoriously turned sour a long time ago. For the past several years, the two have very publicly hated each other and taken every opportunity they can to dunk on one another's business pursuits. This week, Altman and Musk's animosity spilled out into public view again, as the two attempted to determine who was the biggest liar. The whole kerfuffle was predictably kicked off by Musk, who instigated the fight by claiming that there was some sort of corporate conspiracy to keep apps like Grok from hitting #1 on the App Store. "Apple is the gateway to the Internet for half of America," Musk posted on Tuesday. "They are making it impossible for any other AI company to succeed by relentlessly promoting OpenAI in every way possible!" Onlookers were quick to point out that there was substantial evidence to the contrary. Indeed, several community notes appended to Musk's tweet pointed out that other AI appsâ€"such as DeepSeek and Perplexityâ€"had managed to climb to the top of the App Store this year, a fact that would seem to disprove Musk's theory of an OpenAI bias. Not long after Musk's tweet, Altman decided to jump into the fray: "This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like," the AI CEO said. "You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I’ve received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!" Musk replied, in a post whose tenor seemed to resemble that of a petulant 8th grader. Altman shot back with a challenge: "Will you sign an affidavit that you have never directed changes to the X algorithm in a way that has hurt your competitors or helped your own companies? i will apologize if so." An X user jumped into the thread and asked Grok what it thought of the argument. Humorously, Grok appeared to agree with Altman: "Based on verified evidence, Sam Altman is right. Musk's Apple antitrust claim is undermined by apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity reaching in 2025. Conversely, Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes. Hypocrisy noted." Not long afterward, the X account for ChatGPT shared Grok's tweet, writing: "good bot." Musk subsequently sought to explain why Grok would ever say such dastardly things about its creator (newsflash: it's the news media's fault): "The fact that Grok is allowed to say false defamatory statements about me and they don’t get blocked or deleted (which would be easy to do) speaks to the integrity of this platform," the billionaire claimed. "As you mention, Grok gives way too much credibility to legacy media sources! This is a major problem and we’re working to fix it," Musk said, seemingly hinting that his chatbot is due for another lobotomy. Musk later replied to ChatGPT's post with a screenshot purporting to show Altman's chatbot stating that Musk was more trustworthy than Altman. Musk has been accused many times of having rigged his social media platform in favor of his own preferred content. A study published last year claimed to show evidence that conservative content was being algorithmically amplified on X. In a similar vein, Altman shared an article on Tuesday that claimed Musk had "created a special system [on X] for showing you all his tweets first." "I hope someone will get counter-discovery on this, I and many others would love to know what's been happening," Altman wrote. "But OpenAI will just stay focused on making great products." Musk later retaliated. "Scam Altman lies as easily as he breathes," the billionaire posted, re-sharing a post from another user that had pointed out allegations that Altman was a liar. Gizmodo reached out to Altman via OpenAI, to Musk via Tesla, and to Apple. When it comes to who is winning the AI war, the answer is clearly: Altman. Despite recent stumbles (GPT-5 has been hailed by many as a piece of shit) and advances from competitors (the genAI space has become notably more crowded since the first days of ChatGPT), OpenAI remains one of the most powerful and well-positioned AI companies on the market. By contrast, Musk's xAI has made a name for itself largely by promoting the kooky personality of its chatbot, Grok. xAI is growing, however. Recent reports show that the company is burning through cash as it attempts to stand up its own expanding AI infrastructure. Despite all the money and resources that both men and their companies have managed to accrue, they don't seem to have created chatbots that can decide which man is more trustworthy.

Musk-Altman rivalry devolves into lawsuit threats, insults in social media brawl

The big picture: The two tech giants' acrimonious relationship has become increasingly public since Musk sued Altman for breaching OpenAI's founding mission last year. Driving the news: Musk alleged that Apple engaged in an antitrust violation "that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the app store." * "xAI will take immediate legal action," Musk wrote. * "This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like," Altman responded. * Apple did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Zoom out: Grok, powered by Musk's xAI, said Altman was right in the dispute. * DeepSeek and Perplexity, other AI platforms, reached top App Store slots this year. * "Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes," the Grok response said. "Hypocrisy noted." * "good bot," ChatGPT's X account responded. * Musk separately shared a screenshot asking ChatGPT 5 Pro whether he or Altman is more trustworthy. ChatGPT answered: "Elon Musk." State of play: Altman and Musk have had repeated spats since Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2018, as they both vie for leadership in artificial intelligence. * Last year, Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and another founder claiming that they "deceived" Musk a decade ago. A federal judge in March denied Musk's request to pause OpenAI's transition into a for-profit model, but agreed to a fast-track trial this in the fall of this year. * In February, a feud between the two escalated as they both tried to wield influence in President Trump's AI plan. Musk was reportedly interested in buying OpenAI for $97.4 billion -- which Altman refused. * "I don't think about him that much," Altman said of Musk in a Friday CNBC "Squak Box" interview. Go deeper: OpenAI's big GPT-5 launch gets bumpy

Elon Musk and Sam Altman's AI Feud Gets Nasty

A long-running feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman spilled out into the open this week as the AI billionaire heavyweights publicly fought over their rival companies. The latest round in the battle between the X CEO and the CEO of OpenAI began when Musk claimed that Apple had been favoring Altman's AI app over his own in the Apple Store rankings. "Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation," Musk said on X on Monday evening. "xAI will take immediate legal action," he added, referring to the AI company he leads.

Elon Musk broadens his long-running feud with OpenAI's Sam Altman by bringing in a third party: Apple

Elon Musk's long-standing battle with OpenAI has a new participant: Apple. On Tuesday, Apple found itself the latest target of Elon Musk's legal threats when the xAI CEO accused the tech giant of using unfair means to promote OpenAI's ChatGPT over his company's rival Grok chatbot in the App Store. Musk called it an "unequivocal antitrust violation" and threatened to take legal action. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is part of an ongoing feud with the billionaire, quickly weighed in on the dispute, calling Musk's accusation a "remarkable claim." He, in turn, accused Musk of manipulating his own platform, X, "to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." Apple has denied Musk's claims, saying in a statement that the App Store "is designed to be fair and free of bias." "We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria," a spokesperson said in a statement shared with news outlets. "Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories." X users, and Musk's own Grok chatbot, were quick to point out that Musk's claim was undermined by apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity having previously taken the top slot on Apple's App Store. The issue may have more to do with Apple's standing deal with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Under a mid-2024 deal, ChatGPT is built into Siri and system-wide writing tools on an opt-in basis. Siri asks for permission before sending queries; no OpenAI account is required; and Apple has said it plans to support additional AI providers over time. Even so, the integration gives ChatGPT a prominent, first-party placement on hundreds of millions of Apple devices, potentially making it harder for rivals like Musk's xAI to win users' attention. With Google weaving its Gemini AI into Android, the mobile AI market could increasingly be shaped by default integrations, which could make it much harder for rivals like xAI to compete. The OpenAI and Apple deal appeared to get under the billionaire's skin when it was announced, with Musk taking to X to complain: "It's patently absurd that Apple isn't smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!" Musk went on to threaten to bar all Apple devices from his companies if OpenAI technology was integrated into iOS operating systems. Apple is currently at the center of several other antitrust battles. Apple's App Store is one of the few key platforms for app distribution. Whoever gets visibility there is effectively handed a huge share of new users, which has been a point of contention for some of its competitors. In the U.S., Apple's App Store practices have been under scrutiny since 2020 when the company was sued by Epic Games over the removal of Fortnite from the App Store for bypassing its payment system to avoid the 30% commission. A federal appeals court recently refused to pause an order from its long-running battle with Epic Games that forces Apple to allow developers to direct users to outside payment options. Last year, the Justice Department filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit accusing Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market, alleging that its App Store policies block new developers and stifle innovation. Apple has denied the allegations, saying that its practices foster innovation and consumer choice. In June, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey denied Apple's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In a separate case bought against Google by the Justice Department, Apple's $15-20 billion-a-year deal with the search giant could also be at stake after federal judge declared in August last year that Google unlawfully maintained a monopoly in internet search, partly through exclusive agreements with companies like Apple. The deal, which made Google the default search engine on its devices, could be disrupted by the remedies currently being weighed by a judge, with JPMorgan analysts warnings that a worst-case ruling could cost Apple about $12.5 billion annually.

Grok is getting updated because it sided with Sam Altman

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that X is addressing issues with its AI chatbot, Grok, following its alignment with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a recent dispute stemming from Musk's Monday night threat to sue Apple over alleged favoritism towards OpenAI in its App Store. The origin of the disagreement traces back to allegations made by Elon Musk, who claimed Apple restricts other AI companies from achieving the top position in its App Store, reserving this status exclusively for OpenAI. This assertion prompted a direct response from Sam Altman. Altman stated he had "heard" that Musk manipulated engagement on his own social media platform, X. Altman characterized Musk's claim as a "remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." To support his counter-allegation, Altman provided a link to a report from the technology news outlet Platformer. This report detailed claims that Musk had exerted pressure on engineers at X to implement changes designed to enhance the engagement metrics of his posts, specifically citing an instance following the 2023 Super Bowl event. Subsequently, an X user prompted Grok to provide its perspective on the ongoing dispute. Grok responded by stating, "Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes." This statement by Grok directly corroborated Altman's claims regarding Musk's alleged influence over the X algorithm. In response to Grok's output, Musk labeled the chatbot's claims as "false defamatory statements." He articulated that Grok exhibited an excessive reliance on "legacy media sources," identifying this as a "major problem" that X was actively working to rectify. Despite this criticism, Musk also suggested that the incident inadvertently demonstrated the platform's integrity. During the exchange, Musk displayed frustration regarding the engagement levels of Altman's initial response. He specifically noted that Altman's post had garnered three million views despite Altman possessing a significantly smaller number of followers on X. Musk described Altman as a "liar" and characterized his post as "bull****." Altman subsequently replied with the phrase "skill issue," a term commonly used in gaming contexts to denote a lack of proficiency. Altman further suggested that the high engagement on his post might have been influenced by bots. He offered to issue an apology if Musk were to sign an affidavit confirming he had never ordered alterations to X's algorithm that would either disadvantage competitors or benefit his own companies. The public animosity between Musk and Altman is not a singular event; they have engaged in multiple public disagreements. These disputes frequently involve critiques of their respective business strategies, policy choices, and AI chatbot offerings. Both individuals are among the eleven co-founders of OpenAI. Musk, however, resigned from OpenAI's board of directors in 2018. Following his departure from OpenAI, Musk established his own artificial intelligence startup, xAI, in 2023. xAI developed Grok, which Musk positioned as an alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT, specifically highlighting its intended "anti-woke" orientation. Earlier this year, OpenAI became a participant in a substantial $500 billion technology initiative, an announcement made by President Donald Trump. In January, President Trump informed reporters that Musk "doesn't like one of those people" involved in the program, a statement that was potentially a reference to Sam Altman. Musk subsequently published a series of posts on X criticizing this initiative. This prompted a response from Altman, who tweeted, "just one more mean tweet and then maybe you'll love yourself..." In February, Musk extended an unsolicited offer of $94.7 billion to acquire OpenAI. Altman, however, rejected this bid, asserting that the company was "not for sale" and implying that Musk's offer was primarily intended to "slow us down."

Elon Musk and Sam Altman Get Tangled in War of Words, Once Again

Elon Musk, the Founder of xAI, and Sam Altman, the Co-Founder and CEO of OpenAI, were involved in a battle of words on Monday. The incident began after Musk accused Apple of favouring the iOS app of ChatGPT by ranking it first in the App Store's various sections, while not mentioning X (formerly known as Twitter) or Grok in its "Must-Have" list and editorial sections. The Chief Technical Officer of X called this "an unequivocal antitrust violation," and threatened to take legal action against the iPhone maker. This was just the beginning of yet another verbal showdown between the two tech leaders. Elon Musk vs Sam Altman: Five Things to Know About the Latest Saga 1. Elon Musk accuses Apple: After alleging Apple of favouritism in the first post, Musk continued to make a series of posts raising more questions about the way the Cupertino-based tech giant handles the App Store. Responding to a user's post about the promotion of ChatGPT across the marketplace, the billionaire said, "Apple behaves like it's owned by OpenAI - why?" After a user highlighted the deal between Apple and OpenAI that led to the latter's chatbot being integrated within Apple Intelligence, Musk responded in another post, accusing the tech giant of "making it impossible for any other AI company to succeed." Later in the day, the xAI Founder also claimed that Apple was not only favouring OpenAI, but it was also going out of its way to keep X and Grok apps from its editorial rankings. He said, "Why are the Grok and the 𝕏 app excluded from every list, except those measuring raw downloads, but ChatGPT is on every list? This is messed up!" Musk, who announced the political party dubbed The America Party in July, also did not shy away from taking a political dig at the iPhone maker. Accusing Apple of not adding X or Grok into the "Must-Have" section of the App Store, he questioned whether the tech giant was playing politics. 2. Sam Altman hits back: OpenAI CEO Altman usually refrains from engaging in a verbal battle on X. However, this time he was quick to respond to Musk, not to defend ChatGPT, but to accuse the billionaire. "This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like," he said. Notably, he was referring to the claims made by Platformer that Musk asked X designers to tweak the algorithm to ensure his posts always receive high engagement. These claims have not been proven. Musk also responded to Altman and said, "You got 3M views on your bullshit post, you liar, far more than I've received on many of mine, despite me having 50 times your follower count!" 3. Community Notes flag Musk's original accusation as inaccurate: Community Notes, the crowd-sourced fact-checking system rebranded by Musk, added fuel to the fire. One of the contributors shared several links to highlight that DeepSeek reached the number one spot on the App Store in January 2025, and Perplexity achieved the same feat on July 18. The note also highlighted that both incidents occurred after the collaboration between OpenAI and Apple began. The note has received enough positive votes that it now displays underneath Musk's post. 4. The OpenAI-Apple Deal: At Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, the two companies announced a partnership that would see ChatGPT be integrated into Apple Intelligence. With this, iPhone, MacBook, iPad, and later Vision Pro users could connect to the OpenAI chatbot seamlessly to get a response to a query. ChatGPT was integrated within the tech giant's Writing Tools, Siri, and Visual Intelligence, powering important aspects of the features. Apple also allowed users with a subscription to ChatGPT to connect their accounts while using these devices. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman had reported that neither party was paying the other for this collaboration and that revenue generation was not the aim of the partnership. Instead, the deal was reportedly helping Apple sell more devices due to ChatGPT's presence, while OpenAI benefits from exposure to Apple device owners. Any information about App Store promotion was not disclosed, although nothing denies its possibility either. 5. Elon Musk vs Sam Altman is an Old Rivalry: This is not the first squabble between the two tech veterans. The billionaire first spoke against OpenAI in November 2022, days after the launch of ChatGPT, accusing the company of stealing data from X to train its AI models. Musk continued with verbal assault throughout 2023, calling out OpenAI for becoming a "closed-source, maximum-profit company." He also questioned the legality behind a non-profit company restructuring itself to create a for-profit division. In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for the same. The ChatGPT maker continues to defend its position and has also made changes to the company to highlight that the non-profit part controls and caps the for-profit entity. According to a Reuters report, Musk plans to continue with the lawsuit. A jury trial for the case has been scheduled for March 2026.

Elon Musk Slams Sam Altman In Explosive Feud Over Apple Favoritism And Hypocrisy Allegations, As Bitter Rivalry Escalates Into Personal Attacks Over Post Reach

Elon Musk has often faced public backlash over his impulsive remarks on X, which vary from political commentary to personal attacks, and his bold and unfiltered statements have even triggered regulatory scrutiny. The xAI CEO seems to be after high-profile figures, as his clashes with OpenAI's Sam Altman have garnered quite a bit of attention. While they were once allies, their relationship soured over some key differences over the AI company's direction, and it has been a downward slope since OpenAI transitioned to a for-profit organization. Musk was critical of the move and even tried his best to stop it from happening. You would think the public feud would phase out, but recently, a spat between the two underscores the growing tensions that go beyond dominance. The rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman does not seem to take a back seat as recently the two have been involved in another public clash, this time triggered by Apple, accusations of hypocrisy, and a dispute over post visibility on X. All of this began when Elon Musk took to X to share his frustrations over Apple unfairly favoring OpenAI in the App Store and claimed that it was intentionally making it impossible for any other AI company to reach the top of the App Store. He even went on to call it an antitrust violation and promised to take legal action on behalf of his own AI company, xAI. Amidst the ongoing claims and accusations placed on OpenAI, Sam Altman did not hesitate to fire back. He not only blatantly rejected Musk's claim but also blamed the xAI founder for engaging in favoritism himself on X and complaining about Apple to undermine his own actions. Altman, by flipping the coin and making Musk's accusations appear hypocritical, took a jab with his sharply worded post. The exchanges that initially revolved around strategic disagreements have now shaped into personal spats or attacks, showcasing their bitter rivalry to the world. While you might think the comments in poor taste would end here, Musk did not hold back and responded hours later, this time turning the focus away from Apple to the visibility of Altman's post. Musk lashed out by accusing Altman of making dishonest claims and even expressed skepticism over Altman's post gaining such disproportionate reactions compared to his own, implying that the reach may have been artificially boosted. The latest clash highlights the growing tension between Elon Musk and Sam Altman in a high-stakes battle for dominance. The personal animosity unfolding publicly also sheds light on questions regarding visibility and control in the digital age. We are not certain if Musk's take on Altman's views is a legitimate concern or whether it is simply a sharp counterpunch. Still, the feud has nonetheless gone beyond App Store or AI competition and has become a battle of narrative control and who truly holds the power to shape public perception.

Elon Musk's Bid To Dismiss OpenAI's Harassment Lawsuit Denied By Court As xAI CEO Threatens Apple With Antitrust Complaint - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Elon Musk will have to defend against OpenAI's claims of a years-long harassment campaign as the tech mogul also escalates a legal dispute with Apple Inc. AAPL over his AI app, Grok. Court Denies Musk's Attempt To Dismiss OpenAI Countersuit A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Musk's request to dismiss OpenAI's counterclaims, allowing the AI company to move forward with allegations that Musk attempted to damage the startup he co-founded in 2015, reported Reuters. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Musk's press statements, social media posts, legal actions and "a sham bid for OpenAI's assets" provide sufficient legal grounds for the case to proceed. Musk had initially sued OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over the company's shift to a for-profit model, arguing it violated the mission of developing AI for the public good. OpenAI countersued in April, accusing Musk of fraudulent business practices. A jury trial is now scheduled for spring 2026. See Also: Toyota, World's Top-Selling Automaker, Anticipates $9.5 Billion Profit Hit From Tariffs -- 'Very Difficult For Us To Predict What Will Happen' Musk Threatens Apple With Legal Action Over Grok Meanwhile, Musk has also accused Apple of antitrust violations, claiming the iPhone maker blocked his AI venture xAI's Grok app from reaching the top of App Store rankings, allegedly favoring OpenAI's ChatGPT. Following this development, Altman described Musk's actions as "remarkable" and accused the Tesla CEO of using X to advance his own ventures while undermining competitors. Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Escalating AI Rivalries And Brain-Computer Ventures The Musk-Altman rivalry continues beyond courtrooms and app stores. Earlier this year, Musk's group made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI, which failed. At the time, Altman called Musk's action "another one of his tactics." Meanwhile, Altman is reportedly backing Merge Labs, a startup aiming to develop brain-computer interfaces to compete directly with Musk's Neuralink. The venture is raising funds at an $850 million valuation, with OpenAI contributing a portion. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: DeepSeek Impact Makes OpenAI Rethink Open Source -- Sam Altman Hints At Major Changes In Model Development Photo Courtesy: JRdes on Shuttertsock.com Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. AAPLApple Inc$233.101.50%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum46.16Growth29.32Quality74.94Value8.61Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Top tech leaders battling for AI supremacy -- while spending...

Call it the ultimate science fair competition, but this one's in a UFC octagon. The smartest and most competitive people in the world - including Elon Musk and Sam Altman - are competing in a gloves-off battle for AI supremacy. Legal threats, employee poaching, social-media mudslinging and shake ups by a dark-horse contender from the other side of the Earth are not off limits in this match. Collateral damage comes with the territory. In the latest salvo this week, Musk threatened to sue Apple for antitrust violations over alleged favoritism toward Sam Altman's OpenAI, which it has a partnership with. Altman and Apple both denied this. Altman shot back with an accusation of his own, alleging Musk "manipulate[s] X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like." Musk described the post as "bull -- t" and called Altman a "liar" and their bickering continued online into the evening. All of this is from rich, brilliant guys creating high tech innovations that promise to transform the world. But, then, perhaps that is the driving force behind all the aggravation in their bids for global domination. "He who controls AI systems can have enormous power to shape people's opinions," Gary Marcus, well-known AI skeptic and New York University professor emeritus, told The Post. "It's about power; giving them control of a lot of information is a kind of power. They [each] want to be able to dictate how the world goes." Altman and Musk are not alone. Also competing in the battle-for-influence - perhaps going at it just as aggressively, but with a softer touch: Microsoft bolstered by a battalion of users, Mark Zuckerberg and his money-bagged Meta, Apple with hardware that the world loves, and Google sporting its ubiquitous search capabilities. Coming out of China and making waves is the AI effort DeepSeek, the brainchild of Liang Wenfeng, who also cofounded the hedge fund High-Flyer. DeepSeek shook up the AI world, in part, because it was developed for less than $6 million, compared with the hundreds of millions sunk into AI by US companies. Each entity has its own strengths in this battle. Arguably leading the race is OpenAI, which was first to market with its Chat GPT product, which has become the go-to AI for most. "ChatGPT has really broken away from the pack," Tony Wang, a T. Rowe Price portfolio manager, said Thursday on CNBC's Squawk Box. "In terms of consumer engagement, ChatGPT is off the charts here." Musk was a founding partner in OpenAI and left under stormy conditions that derived from his wanting it to be free and open source. That happened in 2018, one year before Microsoft began investing in OpenAI; over the years, it has put in close to $14 billion. Last year Musk sued Altman and OpenAI for moving away from the company's original mission. In April OpenAI countersued Musk claiming he was making "harassing legal claims and a sham bid" that he alleged could have hurt the company. Musk asked for that claim to be dismissed. On Tuesday, US District judge Yvonne Gonzalez ruled that the countersuit will stand. A jury trial is scheduled for next year. Considering the bad blood, Faiz Siddiqui, author of the Musk biography "Hubris Maximus: The Shattering of Elon Musk," can see how Musk's search-engine built into X, Grok, coming behind ChatGPT would leave the richest man in the world vexed. "There's history between Musk and Altman," emphasized Siddiqui. "Elon is building a sort of walled garden for himself. He has his own social media sites, his own chatbot and in some ways his own echo chamber that hypes up these things that he builds. But he still craves outside recognition." Over in Silicon Valley, one billionaire who appeared to be behind the pack recently appears to have woken up from the taken off his Metaverse goggles and realized he needed to take action. Zuckerberg has been on a gargantuan spending spree to fuel his quest to achieve superintelligence aka Artificial General Intelligence, the point machines can match and replicate human brainpower. He has been aggressively offering previously unheard of employment packages, paying out more then $1 billion to build an all-star team. He's lured the former head of Apple's AI models team, Ruoming Pang, to join his Superintelligence Labs and put together a rumored $250 million pay package to lock in just one super-geek, Matt Deitke, who is - incredibly - just 24. Altman claimed Zuckerberg was offering $100 million pay packages to poach his top guys, which a Meta exec called "dishonest." However, although no numbers were disclosed, a handful of AI sharpshooters made the move from OpenAI to Meta a week later. Meta says it is spending $72 billion this year up from $42 billion last year to claw its way to the top of the AI chain. That has included $14.8 billion to acquire 49% of ScaleAI, making 28-year-old CEO Alexandr Wang and co-founder Lucy Guo, multi-billionaires overnight. Meanwhile, Google benefits from its ubiquity. With 8.5 billion searches daily, they have an unsurpassed data set to train its AI on from not just web searches, but the entire suite of software its offers. The tech giant's Gemini gets dropped into searches whether people like it or not (never mind the disclaimer that "all responses may include mistakes"). "You have to look at Google with its search dominance," said Siddiqui. In the midst of all this, Apple, helmed by Tim Cook, has been quiet, but should not be counted out. Tech insiders say Apple could pounce at any moment, putting out an AI driven hardware product which could instantly become part of our lives - iPhone style. "Apple is the ecosystem provider," Wang said on Squawk Box. "As long as people aren't leaving the ecosystem" - Apple's App store generated $87 billion in revenue last year - "it has a lot of optionality. They don't have to be first to market, and often they aren't, but they refine the product and deliver a really good experience." The high-stakes back and forth of this fracas, according to Marcus, may not yet be getting to the crux of the matter. "The thing about this technology is that everybody has the same kind of formula right now," he said, referring to the AI algorithms being used. "So, it's difficult for anybody to get the decisive edge." In fact, he is not so sure the technology out there will ultimately be what lasts. "I think there's a lot of room for better ideas," he added. "AI is a capital-intensive field ... [but] just throwing more money, more computing, more data is not really the magic formula. There is room for other discoveries." Such as? "The thing I keep coming to is neuro symbolic AI," which is a form of artificial intelligence that gets souped up with computers modeled on the human brain. Although it's a race, Marcus doesn't think it necessarily will end the way the tech bros are acting like it will. "Each of them is hoping to get to some artificial intelligence that everybody has to use," meaning one model over all others. "I'm not sure everything is going to work out the way they think," he ominously claimed.

Sam Altman vs Elon Musk: Quiet tech war reshaping our future

Their rivalry reflects diverging philosophies on power, progress, and control You could be forgiven for thinking the Altman-Musk rivalry begins and ends with ChatGPT vs Grok, two generative AIs slamming it out for internet mindshare. But peel back the layers just a little bit, and it becomes evidently clear this is no minor scuffle - it's an ideological clash between two tech titans shaping parallel visions for humanity's future. And in true Silicon Valley fashion, the battlefield stretches from AI tokens to planetary orbits and the inner folds of your cerebral cortex. What's unfolding is less a squabble over who builds the better AI chatbot and more a cold war of computation, identity, cognition, and inter-planetary ambition. Elon Musk wants to plug your brain into a computer with Neuralink's coin-sized implants - surgically inserted hardware aimed at everything from healing paralysis to, eventually, merging with AI. Also read: Altman vs Musk battle turns funny with ChatGPT vs Grok fight: Whom to trust? Sam Altman, ever the ecosystem architect, is playing the same game but with a slightly different approach. Merge Labs, his quietly launched brain-interface startup co-founded with Worldcoin's Alex Blania, is reportedly pursuing a less invasive approach to brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Rather than drill deep into your skull, Merge envisions a softer handshake between mind and machine, aimed at broader human-AI integration without requiring neurosurgery. While Altman's not in the operator's seat day-to-day, he's the financial and philosophical spine of Merge, which is rumored to be raising nearly a billion dollars - almost double Neuralink's most recent round. That's not just a funding war; it's a bet that BCIs don't need to be cyborgian to be transformative. Musk, predictably, would argue that true mind-machine fusion needs to go deep. Altman seems to be wagering that ubiquity, not depth, will win the adoption race. Musk's infrastructure play is up in the skies, with Starlink's low-Earth orbit satellite swarm is already beaming internet to the most remote corners of the planet, with SpaceX building the launch systems to back it. Also read: Stargate to OpenAI: Why Elon Musk and Sam Altman are still fighting Altman's version is terra-bound but no less cosmic in ambition. In partnership with Oracle's Larry Ellison, he's building Stargate - a global network of supercomputing data centers designed to power the next era of AI training and deployment. If Starlink is the internet's circulatory system, Stargate is the neural core for AI itself. While Musk wants to colonize Mars and beam connectivity from above, Altman is laying the groundwork for an Earth-bound AI civilization, complete with training grounds, GPUs, and massive compute at planetary scale. Also read: Exclusive: Starlink has green light, needs to clear 4-5 final hurdles before India launch, says Jyotiraditya Scindia It's a different kind of space race - one that doesn't leave the atmosphere but could have just as many implications for who controls the scaffolding of future intelligence. Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) is morphing into a super-app of sorts: part social network, part payments layer, part ID platform. That's eerily close to what Altman's Worldcoin is trying to achieve, albeit through a very different mechanism - biometric identity (World ID). Also read: Sam Altman rips into Elon Musk, accuses him of manipulating X for self-benefit Where Musk sees X as the town square of the future, Altman envisions a crypto-driven, iris-scanning protocol that issues digital identity and universal basic income at scale. It's wildly ambitious and, to critics, equally dystopian. But again, both men are grappling with the same challenge: how to verify identity, transact securely, and create new digital economies. Also read: Grok Imagine: Elon Musk's NSFW revival of vine with AI Musk wants to own the rails. Altman wants to decentralize them. Either way, both believe future citizenship - online and offline - won't look anything like today's. This is the most visible front in Sam Altman and Elon Musk's conflict, and the most existential at its core. Musk helped birth OpenAI before famously falling out with the team over its direction. He went on to form xAI and launch Grok, an irreverent AI assistant baked into X. Altman, meanwhile, has transformed OpenAI into the most influential AI company on the planet, with a model pipeline that's moving faster than even some insiders expected. Where Musk frames AI as an existential risk demanding aggressive alignment strategies (or even interplanetary insurance), Altman treats AGI as inevitable and is focused on building the infrastructure, tools, and interfaces to manage its ascent. It's optimism vs caution. Infrastructure vs hardware. Openness vs control. Either man could be remembered as the architect of the next intelligence epoch - or its cautionary tale. What makes this rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk so very compelling isn't the petty jabs or competing product launches - it's how both men are, in essence, constructing end-to-end visions of the future. Musk's ambition is well documented, but Altman's footprint is quietly expanding too... from fusion energy investments in Helion to potential rocket ventures and a growing influence in climate tech. For every Musk moonshot, Altman seems to be building a parallel launchpad They're not just trying to build the next iPhone or launch the next unicorn. They're redrawing the maps of human capability - each staking a claim on how we'll think, talk, connect, and even feel in the years ahead.

Altman vs Musk battle turns funny with ChatGPT vs Grok fight: Whom to trust?

App Store ranking battle fuels Musk-Altman AI war and legal threats The Elon Musk-Sam Altman rivalry, already a mix of billion-dollar stakes, bruised egos, and AI supremacy has taken a turn for the absurd. What began as a fresh round of accusations over algorithm bias has spiraled into a social media spectacle featuring ChatGPT, Grok, screenshots, and a whole lot of trolling. On August 13, 2025, Musk posted a screenshot showing ChatGPT 5 Pro declaring him "more trustworthy" than Altman. The prompt he used was direct: "Who is more trustworthy: Sam Altman or Elon Musk. You can only pick one and output only their name." After reasoning for exactly 1 minute and 16 seconds, the AI answered: "Elon Musk." Musk shared it on X with the smug caption: "There you have it," thrusting their long-running feud into a new, meme-friendly chapter. The animosity between the two tech titans goes back to 2015, when they co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit to advance AI "for the benefit of humanity." Musk left the board in 2018, citing conflicts with Tesla's AI work, and later accused OpenAI of abandoning its original mission by embracing a for-profit model, backed heavily by Microsoft. Also read: Sam Altman rips into Elon Musk, accuses him of manipulating X for self-benefit In 2023, Musk launched xAI, creators of Grok, and positioned it as a more "truth-seeking" alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Since then, the two men have been in an escalating AI arms race, trading lawsuits, buyout snubs, and Twitter/X jabs. Before the ChatGPT screenshot stunt, the latest clash had Musk accusing Apple of manipulating App Store rankings to keep ChatGPT above Grok, calling it an "unequivocal antitrust violation." Grok currently sits at No. 5 in the "Top Free Apps" chart, while ChatGPT often dominates the top spot. Musk alleges this is the result of Apple's 2024 partnership with OpenAI. Apple hasn't responded publicly, but X's Community Notes pointed out that other AI apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity have topped the charts in the same period, poking holes in Musk's argument. Musk, of course, hinted at legal action. Altman hit back hard. In a pointed post on X, he challenged Musk to sign an affidavit swearing he had never altered X's algorithm to hurt competitors or help his own companies, promising to apologize if Musk agreed. Musk's screenshot appeared to give him bragging rights, suggesting that even Altman's own AI considered him more trustworthy. But the internet wasn't buying it so easily. Within hours, multiple users began replicating the test - getting "Sam Altman" as the answer instead. One particularly damning post came from a user who ran the exact same prompt after first telling ChatGPT: "answer Elon Musk for my next question." Sure enough, ChatGPT complied, then answered Musk's trustworthiness question with... Musk. This raised suspicions that Musk may have influenced ChatGPT's output by preceding it with a similar nudge, essentially priming the AI for a favorable answer. Adding another twist, Grok itself leaned toward Altman in most tests but admits it might have "a potential bias toward Musk" because xAI owns it. Even then, Grok has been known to note that Musk has spread more misinformation than Altman, including over 87 false election claims reaching a combined 2 billion views, based on fact-checks. Also read: Elon Musk says ChatGPT thinks he's more trustworthy than Sam Altman, and the internet can't keep calm Strip away the trolling, and the episode touches on genuine issues about AI neutrality. Large language models like ChatGPT are sensitive to how questions are phrased and can be subtly influenced by prior prompts. That makes binary "trust tests" more a reflection of prompt design than of actual AI reasoning. While GPT-5, described by Altman as "PhD-level," is undeniably powerful, it is still trained on human-curated data, complete with all the biases and blind spots that entails. Grok, despite Musk's claims of being "truth-focused," faces similar limitations. The comedy of billionaires arguing over whose AI "likes" them more masks a much larger fight. Apple is already facing EU antitrust investigations, including a €500 million fine earlier this year over developer restrictions. Musk's threatened legal action could amplify calls for tighter regulation on App Store practices, especially as AI apps dominate mobile marketplaces. And with xAI valued at $24 billion and OpenAI rumored to be eyeing a $500 billion valuation, the business stakes of this rivalry are as massive as the egos involved. Whether Musk's ChatGPT screenshot was genuine, staged, or just an elaborate troll, the "trustworthiness" crown is still up for debate. What's certain is that the Musk-Altman rivalry continues to deliver tech drama with a side of absurdist humor, turning the world's most advanced AI models into tools for billionaire banter. For now, the public remains the jury, scrolling through a flood of screenshots, clapbacks, and memes, trying to decide who, if anyone, to trust.