Sam Altman says he thought Elon Musk would have 'more empathy' for OpenAI: ‘Truly astonishing’

Sam Altman said that at one point Elon Musk wanted to “make OpenAI into a for-profit company that he could have control of”.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he somehow always assumed that his former cofounder Elon Musk would have "more empathy" for the AI company's huge ambitions. He said, “It wasn't that long ago Elon was crazily talking about launching rockets when people were laughing at that thought, so I think he'd have more empathy for this.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that he thought Elon Musk would have had "more empathy" because of this reason. (Getty Images)

Elon Musk lawsuit against Sam Altman

Sam Altman also talked about Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and his lawsuit against OpenAI and its founders. Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against the ChatGPT maker and Sam Altman accusing the company of violating its nonprofit mission when it partnered with Microsoft.

But Sam Altman said that at one point Elon Musk wanted to “make OpenAI into a for-profit company that he could have control of”- prior to his departure from OpenAI's board in 2018.

What Sam Altman said on Elon Musk and lawsuit?

Sam Altman said that he found Elon Musk's lawsuit and conduct very bewildering. Talking about Elon Musk's post in which he said that he would drop his lawsuit against OpenAI if they changed their name to “ClosedAI", Sam Altman said, “I think that speaks to the seriousness with which Elon means the lawsuit, and that's like an astonishing thing to say, I think.”

“Look, I think this whole thing is unbecoming of a builder. And I respect Elon as one of the great builders of our time,” he said, adding, “It makes me sad. And I think it makes a lot of people sad. There's a lot of people who've really looked up to him for a long time.”