Elon Musk accuses Sam Altman of stealing a nonprofit after Tesla Roadster refund dispute

[midian182]

Sounding off: Elon Musk and Sam Altman's most recent public spat that started over a Tesla Roadster refund has turned into a mudslinging match. Musk claims Altman did receive a refund and "stole a non-profit," while the OpenAI boss said his rival wanted Tesla to take over OpenAI, meaning "no nonprofit at all."

The fight started last week when Altman posted three screenshots: a confirmation of his $50,000 reservation for a Tesla Roadster in July 2018, an email to Tesla he sent asking for a refund, and an image of the email message bouncing.

Musk responded to Altman's post a day later with a single line that read, "You stole a non-profit." He followed that up soon after with a reply that claimed the email issue was fixed and Altman had received his refund. Musk added that Altman's failure to mention these facts was "in your nature."

And you forgot to mention act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours.

But that is in your nature.

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2025

Altman and Musk have been at each other's throats for a long time now. The world's richest man was one of the co-founders, backers, and initial board members of OpenAI in 2015, departing the company in 2018 over what he said was a conflict of interest with Tesla.

In 2024, Musk filed a lawsuit against Altman, OpenAI, and others claiming the company had abandoned its founding mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity and was instead moving toward profit-maximization.

OpenAI responded to the suit by publishing emails that Musk sent during his time at the company. The messages show he supported the firm's plan to create a for-profit arm and encouraged it to raise at least $1 billion in funding. He also suggested a merger with "cash cow" Tesla if OpenAI wanted to have any chance of competing against Google. Altman reminded Musk of these words in his recent reponse.

you also wanted tesla to take openai over, no nonprofit 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?

– Sam Altman (@sama) November 2, 2025

Musk withdrew the OpenAI suit in June 2024, but filed a new lawsuit in August that year repeating the same claims. It was later expanded to include additional defendants, including Microsoft.

In March, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Musk's bid for a preliminary injunction that would have blocked OpenAI's transition from a nonprofit. Part of the case is still set to go to jury trial in spring 2026.

OpenAI now operates under a hybrid structure: it's still majority-controlled by the nonprofit, but runs its business through a for-profit arm called OpenAI LP. This setup lets the company raise money and form partnerships – most notably with Microsoft – while claiming to stay aligned with its original mission of developing AI that benefits everyone.

Musk filed a separate lawsuit in August against OpenAI and Apple alleging their exclusive ChatGPT integration violates antitrust laws.

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Elon Musk accuses Sam Altman of stealing a nonprofit after Tesla Roadster refund dispute

 

[VitalyT]

Worthy of a celebrity death match, these two...

 

[J95qRP7]

Worthy of a celebrity death match, these two..

I'm saddened that silicon and electricity were wasted to make something so useless.

 

[dangh]

I'm saddened that silicon and electricity were wasted to make something so useless.

oh no, they are not silicon, but biological based. But yeah, waste of material

 

[JMGuy]

Can't we all just move on?

Seriously? That’s the subhead?

Not to intentionally take a swipe at the author here, but he asked:

No, apparently not, ROB, because folks like yourself KEEP PUBLISHING these articles about these baby, man-children. Here’s a novel idea…STOP! Find something better to write!

 

[wiyosaya]

Seriously? That’s the subhead?

Not to intentionally take a swipe at the author here, but he asked:

No, apparently not, ROB, because folks like yourself KEEP PUBLISHING these articles about these baby, man-children. Here’s a novel idea…STOP! Find something better to write!

Exactly. Posts like this, besides being CLICKBAIT, are like Tech Industry Soap Opera/Circus.

Please stop paying attention to the Clowns.

 

[axiomatic13]

A couple of man-babies crying over who stole each other's binky. Pathetic to witness.

 

[scoffer]

"while claiming to stay aligned with its original mission of developing AI that benefits greedy corporate techbro-types......."

There - that's more like it.

 

[captaincranky]

Musk always follows one of the oldest adages in the book; "the best defense is to be strongly offensive".

No wait, that's not right. I wonder what he'll do next? Wait, I know, he'll accuse Altman of bring a pedophile.

OK kidz, time for the sing along, 1, 2, 3, 4:

"Elon swears by his mini submarine, mini submarine,mini submarine."
"But will it fit, inside the cave, inside the cave, inside the cave".
"On no it won't, it just won't, and that's fact, fact, fact, it's a fact".

All together now..!!

 

[OortCloud]

The unhinged in the US is trickling down from the very top and the strata underneath are starting to adopt the same bizarre social-media-driven little-brattish-spoilt-teenage-boy behaviour.

 

[captaincranky]

The unhinged in the US is trickling down from the very top and the strata underneath are starting to adopt the same bizarre social-media-driven little-brattish-spoilt-teenage-boy behaviour.

Does this mean you didn't like my "Yellow Submarine" parody of Musk and his attempted cave spelunking photo op?

Teenage girls have been bullying each other to commit suicide on Facebook et al, for what what seems like ages.

Erstwhile, I think the bratty, spoiled, obnoxious, teenage male behaviors, may be caused by acute and/or chronic, gaming overdose.

If you think about it, the behavior patterns you describe may be a two way street. Why else would "Elon" (ostensibly), hire someone to game in his name, thereby allowing him to proclaim himself a, "champion"?

 

[OortCloud]

Erstwhile, I think the bratty, spoiled, obnoxious, teenage male behaviors, may be caused by acute and/or chronic, gaming overdose.
If you think about it, the behavior patterns you describe may be a two way street. Why else would "Elon" (ostensibly), hire someone to game in his name, thereby allowing him to proclaim himself a, "champion"?

Thing is...
A) He's not a teenager any more.
D) Calling somebody a 'p.do' just because they know your idea won't work and people will die is a pretty damning indictment of your character isn't it?
H) Hiring kids to play computer games in your name seems like a pretty tragic desperation to be better than everybody else at any cost doesn't it?
D) Funding VERY far-right European political organisations and N.zi saluting at rallies point to a further massive flaws in an already human-horror-show personality.

 

[OortCloud]

Does this mean you didn't like my "Yellow Submarine" parody of Musk and his attempted cave spelunking photo op?

Happy now?

 

[captaincranky]

Exactly. Posts like this, besides being CLICKBAIT, are like Tech Industry Soap Opera/Circus.

Please stop paying attention to the Clowns.

Well old friend, I'm sorry to vehemently disagree with you about this. But yet I adamantly do.
>>>>"History ignored is destined to repeat itself." <<<<

In one particular case, ignoring the ramifications of the 2016 to 2020 US presidency, yielded 2024's election results. And BTW, having a demented, fascist, psychotic baboon, as POTUS, is in no context, or definition of the word, "funny".

If citizens, as well as all forms of publications, including Techspot, along with the (truly) "free press", had been able to change a paltry 2% of the voting citizen's minds, we wouldn't be mired and sinking in the quicksand of dinosaur and maggot sh!t, we are today.

To ignore the gross excesses, aberrant behaviors, duplicity, and delusions of grandeur, with regard to people like "Elon", could be compared to peoples tortured as Roman slaves, cheering at Roman orgies. "You want to fiddle while our hovels burn, ave Emperator te salutant". Sorta reminds you of pro football, doesn't it? To ignore is to tacitly condone, and what you wind up with is the, "Silicon Valley Illuminati".

Now if you'll excuse me, (doubtless a given). and despite the fact I don't game, I'm off to read seemingly endless charts and graphs of which CPU, which GPU, gives me the most FPS, at what resolution, with ray tracing on or off. Adios! (Like dios is a real thing).

 

[captaincranky]

Thing is...
A) He's not a teenager any more.
D) Calling somebody a 'p.do' just because they know your idea won't work and people will die is a pretty damning indictment of your character isn't it?
H) Hiring kids to play computer games in your name seems like a pretty tragic desperation to be better than everybody else at any cost doesn't it?
D) Funding VERY far-right European political organisations and N.zi saluting at rallies point to a further massive flaws in an already human-horror-show personality.

The thing is, through my overall litany of posts regarding that "gentleman", you should have realized that you're, "preaching to the choir". Although I usually, for the sake of brevity, simply point out that, "he's a piece of sh!t". After which, a choir of delusional "tech--angels" point out the gross errors in my thought processes, and say rude things, that will hopefully, spark my "redemption".

Hey y'all, can I get an. "Ave Elon"?........(On second thought spare me!)