Elon Musk was inside the White House complex when his phone started buzzing. Sam Altman was about to take the stage with Donald Trump. Confused, Musk turned on the TV. What he saw sent him into a rage. Altman stood beside Trump, smiling, as they announced a $500 billion AI initiative called Stargate.
Musk had been practically glued to Trump in the months leading up to the second term. He had campaigned for him, spent hundreds of millions backing him, and positioned himself as Trump’s tech confidant. But somehow, his biggest enemy had beaten him to the punch.
While Musk was focused on his political influence, Altman had been meeting Trump’s top advisors, locking in deals with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and crafting a pitch that Trump couldn’t refuse.
Musk’s reaction was immediate. He lashed out to aides, fuming that the Stargate investors didn’t actually have the money they promised. Then he went nuclear. Within days, Musk launched a hostile $97.4 billion bid to seize control of OpenAI.
From co-founders to enemies
Both men were obsessed with power.
Sam Altman, a millennial, had idolized Gen X Elon Musk for years. Musk was a real-life Tony Stark—a genius billionaire who actually built things while the rest of Silicon Valley drifted into software and ad tech. Altman, who constantly ranted about the stagnation of American innovation, saw Musk as the only guy proving him wrong.
They met through Y Combinator partner Geoff Ralson, who set up a private tour of SpaceX for Altman. That trip cemented his admiration—Musk wasn’t just talking about the future, he was launching rockets.
By 2014, Altman had climbed to the top of Silicon Valley, running Y Combinator, the most powerful startup incubator in tech. He had connections everywhere. VCs owed him favors. Founders needed his approval. If Altman wanted someone funded, they got funded. If an investor crossed him, they got shut out.
His superpower? Raising money. He could walk into a room, sit cross-legged in jeans and sneakers, and paint a vision so massive that billionaires lined up to throw cash at him.
Then, in 2015, Altman and Musk started having dinner every Wednesday. Just two guys, meeting up to discuss the apocalypse.
They agreed on one thing: AI was the biggest existential threat to humanity. If left unchecked, it could outthink humans, take control, and decide we weren’t necessary anymore.
Altman suggested they build their own AI lab—a kind of Manhattan Project for artificial intelligence. Musk, already worried about Google’s growing dominance in AI, was all in. They formed OpenAI as a nonprofit, designed to keep AI research safe and accessible. Musk put up most of the $1 billion in funding. He and Altman ran it together.
A few months before the official launch, they appeared on stage at a Vanity Fair tech conference. Musk, in his usual suit. Altman, looking out of place in a blazer and sneakers. They agreed on almost everything, even Musk’s idea to nuke Mars to make it habitable.
Then, in 2017, everything fell apart.
OpenAI’s research team realized that building super-advanced AI would cost way more than a nonprofit could afford. They needed outside investors. Musk saw this as his moment. He offered to personally fund OpenAI—but only if he got full control. He wanted to be CEO and own the majority of the company.
Altman wasn’t having it.
He rallied OpenAI’s leadership—Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever—to block Musk’s takeover. In an email, they told Musk that OpenAI had been created to stop AI dictatorships, not create one.
Musk lost it. “This is the final straw,” he wrote back.
By early 2018, he had quit OpenAI completely. Altman took over.
For the next few years, OpenAI focused on research. Then, on November 30, 2022, everything changed.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT.
It was supposed to be a small research release. Instead, it became one of the biggest tech revolutions of the century. Millions of people started using it overnight. AI wasn’t a futuristic concept anymore—it was here, right now, and OpenAI owned it.
Musk, watching from the sidelines, was furious.
He attacked OpenAI publicly, accusing them of ignoring safety. He signed an open letter demanding a pause on AI development. Then he launched his own AI company, xAI, promising to build a safer, more open alternative.
It didn’t work.
xAI struggled to compete. OpenAI was miles ahead. ChatGPT had become the default AI brand, and Altman was now the face of artificial intelligence.
Musk wanted revenge. He took OpenAI to court, suing Altman for betraying their original nonprofit mission. But the lawsuits didn’t slow Altman down.
ChatGPT changes everything
For years, OpenAI quietly pushed forward without Musk. Then, in November 2022, everything changed.
OpenAI released ChatGPT, and AI went mainstream overnight. Millions of users swarmed the platform. Silicon Valley called it the most transformative consumer-tech product since the iPhone.
Musk, watching from the outside, was livid. He had walked away, and now Altman was the face of AI. He attacked OpenAI, accusing them of moving too fast and ignoring safety. In early 2023, he signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on AI development.
Then he launched xAI, his own AI company. The goal was simple: beat OpenAI at its own game. But while Altman’s AI empire kept expanding, Musk’s xAI struggled to keep up.
By 2024, Musk was done watching from the sidelines. He went on the attack, suing OpenAI for allegedly betraying its original nonprofit mission. The lawsuit dragged on for months. Then Trump won re-election, and Altman saw an opening.
Altman outplays Musk in Washington
Altman had always been a Democrat, but he wasn’t about to let Musk be the only tech billionaire in Trump’s ear. So he started working his way in.
Altman’s strategy was simple but brutal. He met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s transition team leader, and pitched an AI plan so massive that Trump couldn’t ignore it.
That plan was Stargate: a $500 billion investment into U.S. AI infrastructure. Altman lined up SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Oracle’s Larry Ellison as key backers.
Four days before the inauguration, Ellison brokered a private call between Altman and Trump. Altman sold him on the vision—billions in U.S. data centers, thousands of jobs, a technological leap forward. Trump loved it.
When Altman arrived for the inauguration, he made sure to avoid Musk. Instead of sitting with tech CEOs, he met privately with Trump’s allies, making sure Stargate was set.
Then, the day after the inauguration, he stepped onto the White House stage with Trump and announced it to the world.
Musk found out the same way the rest of the world did—by watching it on TV.
Musk declares war
Musk erupted. He called Stargate “fake” on X, telling his allies that the investors didn’t actually have the money. But he didn’t stop there.
Within days, he launched a $97.4 billion hostile takeover bid for OpenAI. His message to investors?
“Let’s go to war with Sam Altman.”
Altman, who was in Paris for an AI summit, found out from The Wall Street Journal. He scrambled to respond. On Slack, he reportedly told OpenAI employees that Musk was just trying to derail the company.
Then he hit Musk where it hurt.
“No thank you,” Altman posted on X, “but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
It was a brutal response. Musk had overpaid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022—only to see its value collapse. Altman’s counteroffer was a direct slap in the face.
Musk wasn’t done. He told investors he would withdraw his bid if OpenAI returned to being a nonprofit. OpenAI’s board didn’t even blink.
On Friday, they officially rejected Musk’s offer.
“OpenAI is not for sale,” board chairman Bret Taylor wrote in a letter. “Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition has failed.”
Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, fired back: “No surprise. They’re scared.”
Musk framed his takeover as a mission to save OpenAI from itself. “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” he said.
Altman? He wasn’t buying it.
“Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity,” Altman said in an interview. “I feel for the guy. I don’t think he’s a happy person.”
The war between Musk and Altman isn’t over. It’s just beginning.
