OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, accused Elon Musk on Tuesday of attempting to slow down his company’s progress, following Musk’s consortium bid to buy control of OpenAI for $97.4 billion.

“Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the latest ... I think he’s probably just trying to slow us down,” Altman told Bloomberg TV at the Paris AI Action Summit.

Underlining that OpenAI is not for sale, Altman criticized Musk’s tactics. “I wish he would just compete by building a better product, but I think there’s been a lot of tactics,” he said. Musk's X.AI was introduced in November 2023, Grok, a generative artificial intelligence chatbot similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

When asked if Musk’s actions stem from insecurity, Altman replied: “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy. I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person."

Altman also expressed minimal concern about Musk’s influence in US President Donald Trump’s administration but acknowledged it might warrant attention.

Musk's move to buy OpenAI could complicate Altman's reorganization plans, including a shift to a for-profit model and its ambitious $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure.

Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015, but Musk left in 2019, and Altman has since steered the company toward a for-profit structure. (Anadolu Agency)