Techbros Sam Altman and Elon Musk traded jibes online over the status of OpenAI Inc., after the AI company they co-founded turned into for-profit enterprise following an investment from Microsoft Corp. last week.
“You stole a non-profit,” Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, responding to Altman’s post from 31 October 2025 where he shared the screenshots of his attempts to cancel a reservation for a Tesla Roadster from 2018 which hasn’t made it to production until now.
“I helped turn the thing you left for dead into what should be the largest non-profit ever,” Altman said in response, quoting Musk’s post. “You know as well as anyone a structure like what Openai has now is required to make that happen.”
“You also wanted Tesla to take OpenAI over, no non-profit at all. And you said we had a 0% of success. Now you have a great AI company and so do we. Can’t we all just move on?”
The beginnings of OpenAI
In December 2015, Sam Altman and Elon Musk—along with former Stripe CTO Greg Brockman among others—got together to build “artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity—and to ensure that no single company or government controls super-intelligent AI”.
OpenAI was set up as a non-profit research organisation with contributions of up to a $1 billion by the co-founders. The idea was to make AI research open-source, countering the secrecy of Google and DeepMind.
Elon Musk’s exit from OpenAI
In 2018, Musk left as he reportedly felt that OpenAI was falling behind Google and DeepMind in talent and resources. After resigning from the board, Musk said he would continue to donate but stopped funding OpenAI soon after.
Essentially Musk and Altman had different visions — while Musk wanted to emphasise AI safety and existential risk, Altman wanted to make OpenAI a leading research institution focused on innovation.
OpenAI after Elon Musk
OpenAI soon ran into financial troubles, only to be rescued by Microsoft’s billion-dollar investment in 2019 after the company set up a “capped profit” unit called OpenAI LP. That allowed OpenAI to raise capital, while the profits went to the non-profit’s mission of building an open-source AI.
The funding allowed OpenAI to build ChatGPT in stealth mode over the next three years, with nary a help from Musk. ChatGPT finally broke cover in late 2022 and made OpenAI the AI behemoth it is today.
That success has been hard to swallow for Musk, who has time and again tried to sue OpenAI and Altman or made an unsolicited bid to take over the firm.
OpenAI Inc. — A for-profit company
On 28 October, OpenAI gave its long-time backer Microsoft a 27% stake as part of a restructuring plan that clears the path for the ChatGPT maker to become a for-profit business.
According to the revised Microsoft-OpenAI deal, the Redmond, Washington-based company will get a stake in OpenAI worth about $135 billion. That gives it access to OpenAI’s technology until 2032, including AI models that may achieve artificial general intelligence by then.
An OpenAI IPO at $1-trillion valuation?
Reports quickly emerged of OpenAI laying the groundwork for an IPO, setting the stage for what could be one of the biggest IPOs of all time.
The talks are early and plans—including the figures and timing—could change depending on business growth and market conditions. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has told some associates the company is aiming for a 2027 listing, but some advisers predict it could come even sooner, around late 2026.
OpenAI is said to be seeking a valuation of $1 trillion, which is coincidentally the salary Musk is arm-twisting the Tesla board to approve for himself.
