“Crook”. On his social network, Elon Musk has the gift of knowing how to flatter her old friends. Especially when they play on the ground of provocation. Monday, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have revealed that the consortium led by the billionaire had proposed $ 97.4 billion for the acquisition of Openai. An offer to which Sam Altman, CEO of the Californian start-up and former friend of Elon Musk, replied full of irony on the social network X: “No thanks, but we will buy Twitter for $ 9.74 billion if you wish “. Distributed which earned him the qualifier of “crook”.
However, again a few years ago, Sam Altman counted among the entourage close to Elon Musk. Nothing seemed to be able to move them away. If not the company they co-founded: OpenAi.
The birth of a friendship … and OPENAI
After The Wall Street Journalthe old friends met in 2012, through Geoff Ralston, associated with Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator. Sam Altman then has their twenties and has been part -time of the company since 2011. Elon Musk has not long been in touch with him. The two men share a center of common interest: artificial intelligence (AI). Better still, both worry about the dangers of technology. In February 2015, Sam Altman, now president of the company, even wrote that AI was “probably the greatest threat to the continuous existence of humanity”.
Three months later, he sends an email to Elon Musk, proposing that combinator is launching a “Manhattan project” for artificial intelligence, in reference to the research project of the American government whose objective was to produce a bomb atomic during the Second World War. To which Tesla CEO was particularly receptive.
Proof is. A few months later, in December 2015, Openai was born, co-founded by Sam Altman, Elon Musk and nine other people. At that time, it benefited from a non -profit organization status with the aim, displayed, to work for the good of humanity thanks to artificial intelligence programs in “open source”.
But in 2017, Openai went in search of a calculation power capable of making a major breakthrough in AI, which requires additional billions of dollars. According to emails published in An OpenAi blog articleElon Musk and Sam Altman then agreed that the company had to go to a for -profit model in order to obtain the resources necessary for the next development phase. Problem: partners have divergent opinions on how to achieve it. According to Openai, Elon Musk had proposed to merge the start-up of AI with Tesla, which, according to him, would have given Openai enough to compete with titans like Google. Faced with the team’s refusal, he decides to leave.
“He hurts me”
It will not be necessary to wait any longer for Elon Musk to become the biggest critic in Openai. Shortly after the release of Chatgpt, Tesla’s leader announced that he cuts Openai access to a Twitter data pipeline, a social network he has just acquired. A way to put sticks in the wheels of the Californian start-up which planned to use Twitter data to form its models. At the same time, Elon Musk tries to convince the employees of Openai to join Xai, his competing company created in 2023. The rivalry increases. The relatives of Sam Altman defend that Elon Musk is jealous of the way in which his old mentor has exceeded him in the race for the while his detractors assure that the concerns of the billionaire in terms of security are real and that he sees XAI as crucial to develop a better technological alternative.
In March 2024, the saga continued. Elon Musk continues Openai in justice for having pretended to have raped his founding agreement to develop an AI which benefits humanity, by going to a for -profit structure and by refusing to publish its model for open source use. A legal battle that took a new turn in the summer of 2024 for the director of SpaceX who continued his former friend a second time. Always with the idea of preventing the business from becoming a for -profit organization.
Since the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency and the position of Elon Musk in the new administration, the quarrels between the two men have multiplied. Two days after the inauguration of the Head of State, Sam Altman appeared alongside Donald Trump to announce the project Stargateintended to develop powerful artificial intelligence data centers across the United States. A public appearance that did not fail to have the SpaceX leader react. Almost immediately after the press conference, Elon Musk began to say that the organizations involved in the company Stargate did not have enough funding for the project. Declaration that Sam Altman quickly denied, inviting him to come and visit the first site Stargatealready under construction.
Their relationship should not go by arranging. Now the leader of Openai no longer hesitates to suggest that the actions of his ex-associate come from his regret to have gone, especially since Xai is struggling to take off. “I believe that his whole life is explained by a lack of confidence. He hurts me,” Sam Altman told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. In all friendship, of course.