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Apple suit sparks new barbs
Elon Musk and Sam Altman reignited their feud after Apple sued OpenAI for stealing trade secrets, with Musk taking to X to call Altman a scammer and writing, "Scam Altman strikes again …"
“Two titans of the AI industry, Elon Musk and Sam Altman, are locked in a blistering war of words over their latest AI models”
Altman fired back on X, mocking Musk’s space data center plans by writing, "Homeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters," as the dispute spilled into investor-facing messaging.
The clash unfolded alongside OpenAI’s confidential IPO filing and SpaceX’s record $75 billion IPO, while SpaceX also agreed to acquire AI coding firm Cursor for $60 billion in stock.
CNBC reported that an OpenAI representative told the outlet on Friday, "We have no desire to obtain competitors' confidential information."
X exchanges tie to models
The weekend exchange linked the Apple lawsuit to competing model releases, with SpaceX rolling out Grok 4.5 and OpenAI putting forward GPT-5.6 Sol.
Altman framed his response around benchmarks, writing on X, "there are a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 sol is the best model in the world right now," while Musk countered with space-data-center timing, saying, "We start flying them next year."
Musk also used the Apple dispute to revive accusations about Altman and OpenAI’s evolution, and CNBC described how Musk and Altman helped start OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit AI research lab.
CNBC added that SpaceX completed its landmark initial public offering after the trial, and that this week SpaceX released Grok 4.5 while OpenAI debuted GPT-5.6 Sol.
What’s at stake next
Beyond the social-media insults, the sources place the next stakes in the legal fight over hardware trade secrets and the companies’ competing paths to public markets.
“Elon Musk and Sam Altman criticized each other in new posts on X, highlighting the billionaires' long-standing tussle over OpenAI's evolution”
Fortune said Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees, alleging they stole company secrets to help build up OpenAI’s hardware business, while OpenAI denied the claims and told multiple outlets it “has no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.”
CNBC reported that SpaceX raised a record $75 billion as it promoted plans to launch data centers into space, and that OpenAI has filed confidentially for its own IPO.
In the same CNBC account, Musk’s posts followed an OpenAI spokesperson telling the outlet, "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets," as the feud continued to run in parallel with model releases and IPO preparations.
