From feud to friendship? Sam Altman tells Elon Musk 'let's be friends' in public exchange

The exchange began when Elon Musk reacted to a 2016 interaction between Sam Altman and computer scientist Paul Graham.

In a shift from their ongoing public feud, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman extended an olive branch to Elon Musk via a post on X (formerly Twitter) on May 10, 2025. This conciliatory gesture followed Musk's resurfacing of Altman's past political statements, particularly a 2016 post where Altman expressed opposition to Donald Trump.

The exchange began when Musk reacted to a 2016 interaction between Altman and computer scientist Paul Graham. Graham had posted, "Few have done more than Sam Altman to defeat Trump," to which Altman had replied, "Thank you, Paul."

Musk reshared this exchange with an emoji, prompting Altman to respond, "We were both wrong, or at least I certainly was, but that was from 2016 and this was from 2022," referencing a 2022 Guardian article titled "Elon Musk hits back at Trump and says ex-president should ‘hang up his hat’."

anyway, see you next week, lets be friendsagi too important to let a lil feud get in the way
Sam Altman (@sama) May 10, 2025

Altman continued in the same thread, stating, "Anyway, see you next week, let's be friends. AGI too important to let a lil feud get in the way."

This exchange marks a significant moment in the relationship between the two tech leaders, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with the mission to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) for the benefit of humanity. Their relationship has since soured, with Musk filing a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman in February 2024, alleging that the company had deviated from its original nonprofit mission.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has withdrawn his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, which he filed earlier in 2024. The lawsuit accused OpenAI of abandoning its original nonprofit mission in favour of profit-driven motives, particularly highlighting its partnership with Microsoft. The case was dismissed without prejudice, allowing Musk the option to refile in the future.