/ Why Musk And Altman Are Fighting Again on X.
Liam Ortiz is a tech journalist who covers AI related big tech and breaking news at TheTweaks. Before joining TheTweaks he worked for almost four years in corporate and national tech news in different companies. Few are quick but Liam is quicker, he breaks news before anyone else and that makes her special. His passion is somewhere connected with profession as his hobby is watching documentary movies.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are back again. During the weekend of 11-12th of July 2026, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the CEO of OpenAI exchanged some new insults on X, which revived their rivalry that goes back more than ten years to the establishment of OpenAI itself.
The cause of it was the recent lawsuit of Apple against OpenAI filed on Friday, which claimed that the manufacturer of ChatGPT, io hardware partner and two ex-apple employees used interviews as a tool of stealing the information about the roadmap of Apple devices. As soon as Musk heard about it, he used the old nickname of Altman ‘Scam Altman’ and added that he scammed in such a way that he took the control of an open source AI nonprofit and copied Apple’s device technology.
Of course, Altman couldn’t remain silent and used Musk’s space ambitions criticizing them: he noted that Musk sells the idea of short lived orbital data centers to public investors. Musk answered with a comment reminding about the previous courtroom win of Altman against him and saying that Altman would become a parole officer before visiting SpaceX’s space facilities. Altman ended this exchange with a more gentle joke, saying that the fact that the current model of OpenAI is the best in the industry is that Musk cannot stop paying attention to it.
It is not a mere internet dispute but a new part of the feud that began from the establishment of OpenAI in 2015. Elon Musk and Sam Altman were the co-founders of this non profit AI lab that aimed to benefit humanity. Musk left the board in 2018 after contributing millions of dollars and he accused Altman of leading OpenAI to the for profit structure, betraying the original idea of this foundation. After that, Musk began to sue Altman asking about $150 billion of compensation. In May 2026, the jury supported Altman and OpenAI but Musk said that he would appeal the verdict and the legal war continued.
Here lies the part that most sources omit: this rivalry is not accidental and does not happen without any incentives. This conflict is occurring at the moment when both men are financially motivated to keep the AI in the focus of the media.
First of all, SpaceX successfully held its IPO and got $75 billion. OpenAI is preparing for its IPO. Secondly, both companies presented their flagship AI models recently. SpaceX presented Grok 4.5 and OpenAI GPT-5.6 Sol. At the same time, in the AI industry, the mood of investors changes because of posts. Therefore, a loud dispute of these men is not only not a distraction but free promotion. Each post on X keeps the names of both companies and their competitors models in the focus of the media and potential clients at exactly the moment when the companies need money or are preparing for it.
It means that all jokes of Altman and Musk are not only personal but also a cheap tool of staying in the headlines in the most needed moment and gaining popularity by rivalry.
Apart from the personal drama, there are significant business issues behind it. The lawsuit of Apple can reveal the confidential information about the hardware partnership of OpenAI with the io company, the device venture founded by Jony Ives, the ex-design chief of Apple. For Musk, it is important to keep SpaceX and Grok in discussion too, especially now, when SpaceX became a publicly held corporation and it needs to explain its AI ambitions to the shareholders.
None of the men provided the proof of these allegations and the lawyers say that the public dispute of Altman and Musk on X does not influence the lawsuit of Apple against OpenAI in any way.
Despite the fact that it seems like the dispute of billionaires is pure pettiness, it is better to consider it as strategic noise. Both companies are going through periods of capital gathering SpaceX after its IPO, OpenAI before it. Both companies just presented their competing AI models. The public feud costs nothing and guarantees the attention, which is exactly what these companies need now. The real story is not the question of who called them a scammer; it is the fact that two biggest AI companies use rivalry as a marketing strategy while their real legal and business fights: Apple lawsuit, OpenAI’s IPO and Musk’s appeal quietly create the next chapter of the AI industry.
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