Sam Altman Says Elon Musk Is 'Obsessed' With Him, Again – Here's Why

Sam Altman clapped back at Elon Musk after Musk accused him of “scamming” users, claiming Musk’s renewed attacks are proof that OpenAI’s new 5.6 Sol model is the best in the world.

The rivalry between Sam Altman and Elon Musk flared up again this weekend, this time centered on which company built the smarter AI model. Altman used the moment to needle his longtime rival, suggesting that Musk’s fixation on him is proof enough of who’s winning.

The timing of this latest clash wasn’t random. Both OpenAI and SpaceXAI rolled out updated versions of their flagship AI systems within the same week, with OpenAI launching GPT-5.6 and SpaceXAI putting out Grok 4.5. A specific piece of that release, 5.6 Sol, is OpenAI’s agentic version of ChatGPT built to carry out multi-step tasks on its own, a capability that mirrors what Grok 4.5 is designed to do as well.

Altman didn’t let that sit. He fired back by pointing out that Musk is the one pitching public market investors on short-term orbital data centers, a reference to Musk’s push for space-based data centers as a way around Earth’s energy constraints for AI systems.

In Altman’s words, the most reliable indicator that his model is on top is that Musk is “obsessed” with him again.

Even outside the courtroom, the two men have made a habit of publicly mocking each other’s companies and exchanging personal insults, a pattern that shows no signs of slowing down.

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