Elon Musk & Sam Altman:
Collaboration to Rivalry
2015
OpenAI Founded
Musk and Altman co-found OpenAI as a nonprofit to develop safe AI for humanity
2018
Musk Leaves Board
Tensions rise as Musk leaves OpenAI's board, citing conflicts with Tesla
2019
OpenAI Goes For-Profit
OpenAI adopts a capped-profit model, further straining the relationship
2023
Musk Founds xAI
Musk launches xAI as a competitor to OpenAI, developing Grok to rival ChatGPT
2024
Lawsuit Filed
Musk sues OpenAI, claiming it violated its founding principles by focusing on profit
2025
$97.4B Takeover Bid
Musk makes unsolicited bid to acquire OpenAI; Altman quickly rejects the offer