Elon Musk trolls OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over Apple trade secrets suit
Daniel Howley· Technology Editor
Mon, July 13, 2026 at 11:41 PM GMT+5:30
2 min read
Elon Musk has inserted himself into the legal battle between Apple (AAPL) and OpenAI (OPAI.PVT). The SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA) CEO took to X over the weekend, taking several shots at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and accusing him of “scamming.”
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI alongside Altman and others, lost a lawsuit against the AI startup’s chief executive and president Greg Brockman. In his suit, Musk accused the pair and OpenAI backer Microsoft (MSFT) of duping him into donating money to the company with the understanding that it would remain a nonprofit
In one post on X, Musk said Altman “takes scamming to a whole new level.”
Altman replied, criticizing Musk for “selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters,” referring to SpaceX’s plans to launch space-based data centers as an alternative to ground-based solutions
Musk shot back, saying the company will begin flying the data centers next year, while claiming, “After stealing an open
Apple revealed its lawsuit against OpenAI in a court filing on Friday, claiming “OpenAI and its cohorts have been engaging in a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level.”
In a statement, an OpenAI spokesperson told Yahoo Finance, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”
Apple alleges in its suit that Tang Tan, OpenAI’s hardware chief and former Apple vice president of product design, and Chang Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer who now works at OpenAI, colluded to steal information from the iPhone maker that would help OpenAI build its own AI devices
According to the suit, Tan emailed himself information about Apple’s suppliers before leaving the company and joining OpenAI. He also allegedly asked prospective OpenAI candidates who were still employed by Apple to bring “actual parts” to interviews for “show and tell” sessions
Liu, Apple claims, used a former Apple colleague’s Apple-issued laptop to access the company’s network and downloaded hardware-related files about unreleased products and other proprietary data
The lawsuit states that other former Apple employees who moved on to OpenAI similarly emailed themselves confidential Apple information to their private email accounts, while others used their knowledge of Apple’s trade secrets to help OpenAI create its AI hardware devices
Apple said OpenAI currently employs more than 400 former Apple workers
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at@DanielHowley
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
