Sam Altman says Elon Musk is a ‘bully’ who only respects people who punch him back

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said a little drama may grease the gears for talks with Elon Musk.
• “I think once in a while you’ve got to punch a bully back in the nose,” Altman told Vanity Fair.
• Altman said that Musk “only respects people” who take such an approach.

Sam Altman says you need to accept some level of drama if you want him and Elon Musk to work together.

“I think once in a while you’ve got to punch a bully back in the nose,” Altman told Vanity Fair during a wide-ranging interview. “And I also think Elon, like many bullies, only respects people who do.”

Altman and Musk had a famous falling-out that has since been recounted and is at the center of multiple legal battles. Their drama, which is far from the only simmering beef in the AI world, is now also the backdrop to efforts among the world’s largest AI companies to reach a consensus on how to steer their technology.

The OpenAI CEO said he would work with Musk, who has taken to calling his one-time ally “Scam Altman,” as the industry grapples with renewed concerns over AI safety.

“If you want me to be able to work with him, maybe you should be happy I hit back once in a while, but I will work with Elon, of course,” he said.

For his part, Altman said that he “won’t call myself a saint.” At the same time, he doesn’t view himself as the biggest problem.

“I’m not sure if I’m the one that you’re supposed to come after between Elon and me,” he said.

In July, Musk lashed out at Altman when another account said that he had “warned the world about Scam Altman.”

Musk quoted that post and added, “He takes scamming to a whole new level.”

In response, Altman took a shot at Musk’s advocacy for orbital data centers, something the OpenAI CEO has repeatedly expressed skepticism about.

“Homeboy you’re the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” Altman wrote.

Despite the drama, AI companies have taken more steps toward cooperation. Leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, SpaceXAI, Google, and Nvidia signed a White House-driven agreement in which the companies agreed to some self-imposed safety measures.

Altman told Politico’s Decoded Podcast that there’s no single group chat, but officials at frontier labs have multiple avenues to continue talking.

“There’s no like big WhatsApp that everybody’s in,” Altman said, “but there’s like lots of, you know, people are running into each other at the same conference. There’s calls, occasional meetings, stuff like that.”