OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk have a long history.
Getty
Elon Musk helped found OpenAI, but he has frequently criticized the company in recent years.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called Musk a “jerk” but said the Tesla CEO “really does care” about AI risks.
Here’s a history of Musk and Altman’s working relationship.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman lead rival AI firms and now take public jabs at each other – but it wasn’t always like this.
Years ago, the two cofounded OpenAI, which Altman now leads. Musk departed OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, in 2018 and recently announced his own AI venture, xAI.
Here’s a look at Musk and Altman’s complicated relationship over the years.
Getty
The group aimed to create a nonprofit focused on developing artificial intelligence “in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole,” according to a statement on OpenAI’s website from December 11, 2015.
Source: Insider
Carina Johansen/Getty Images
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images
“As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will eliminate a potential future conflict for Elon,” OpenAI said in a blog post at the time, adding that Musk would continue to provide guidance and donations.
With his departure, Musk also backed out of a commitment to provide additional funding to OpenAI, a person involved in the matter told The New Yorker.
“It was very tough,” Altman told the magazine of the situation. “I had to reorient a lot of my life and time to make sure we had enough funding.”
Source: Insider, The New Yorker, Insider
JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images
Susan Walsh/AP
“I had to focus on solving a painfully large number of engineering & manufacturing problems at Tesla (especially) & SpaceX,” he tweeted. “Also, Tesla was competing for some of same people as OpenAI & I didn’t agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do. Add that all up & it was just better to part ways on good terms.”
Source: Insider
Frederic Brown/Getty Images
Two years after his departure, Musk said, “OpenAI should be more open” in response to an MIT Technology Review article reporting that there was a culture of secrecy there, despite OpenAI frequently proclaiming a commitment to transparency.
Musk also added that his “confidence in Dario for safety is not high,” referring to Dario Amodei, who led OpenAI’s strategy at the time.
Source: Insider
Getty Images
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
NurPhotos/Getty Images
Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch
“To say a positive thing about Elon, I think he really does care about a good future with AGI,” Altman said on a recent episode of the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast, referring to artificial general intelligence.
“I mean, he’s a jerk, whatever else you want to say about him — he has a style that is not a style that I’d want to have for myself,” Altman told Swisher. “But I think he does really care, and he is feeling very stressed about what the future’s going to look like for humanity.”
In response to Musk’s claim that OpenAI has turned into “a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft,” Altman said on the podcast, “Most of that is not true, and I think Elon knows that.”
Source: “On With Kara Swisher”, Insider
Drew Angerer/Getty
In a March episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast, Altman said, “Elon is obviously attacking us some on Twitter right now on a few different vectors.”
Nonetheless, he called Musk one of his heroes, adding, “I believe he is, understandably so, really stressed about AGI safety.”
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast, Insider
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In a May talk at University College London, Altman was asked what he’s learned from various mentors, according to Fortune. He answered by speaking about Musk.
“Certainly learning from Elon about what is just, like, possible to do and that you don’t need to accept that, like, hard R&D and hard technology is not something you ignore, that’s been super valuable,” he said.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
The letter, which also received signatures from several AI experts, cites concerns of AI’s potential risks to humanity.
“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the letter says.
But while he was publicly calling for the pause, Musk was quietly building his own AI competitor, xAI, The New Yorker recently reported.
Source: Future of Life Institute, Insider, The New Yorker, Insider
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Twitter recently took aim at posts linking to rival Substack, forbidding users from retweeting or replying to tweets containing such links, before reversing course. In response to a tweet about the situation, Altman tweeted, “Free speech absolutism on STEROIDS.”
Musk has called himself a “free speech absolutist” before and said it’s one of the reasons he bought Twitter.
Source: Big Tech Alert on Twitter, Twitter, Insider
Issei Kato/Reuters
“I would go watch if he and Zuck actually did that,” he said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June, though he said he doesn’t think he would ever challenge Musk in a physical fight.
Altman also repeated several of his previous remarks about Musk’s position on AI.
“He really cares about AI safety a lot,” Altman said at Bloomberg’s summit. “We have differences of opinion on some parts but we both care about that and he wants to make sure we, the world, have the maximal chance at a good outcome.”
Separately, Altman recently told The New Yorker Musk has a my way-or-the highway approach to issues more broadly.
“Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it,” Altman said.
Source: Bloomberg, Insider, The New Yorker