The Rich Eat Each Other: Musk v Altman

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Oh, no. The girlies are fighting. Sam Altman testified against Elon Musk today.

[00:00:04]>> I just love it when the billionaires are You know what I mean?

[00:00:08]>> [laughter] >> Things are rough, okay? We have to find our fun somewhere. And I kind of prefer this whole reverse gladiator thing. Hey, if we can't eat the rich, maybe they can afford to do it. So, this trial is between two of the worst people you've ever heard of over the fate of one of the worst technologies you've ever heard of. The central argument is essentially about how OpenAI, which started as a supposed non-profit, ended up on its for-profit journey. With Elon Musk suing Sam Altman for $150 billion because he says Sam Altman is greedy.

[00:00:40]Yep. So, I guess at some point they figured out that a non-profit wasn't going to attract many investors. If only the hyper-wealthy capitalist cared about doing good, am I right? So, I guess they had no other option but to turn it into a profit-making venture. So, Elon suggested that it be folded into Tesla, of course. And then Altman instead went and got an investment from Microsoft and started like a joint venture there. And I'm not entirely sure what the details of the disagreement are here, but I don't really care. Elon, of course, then went on to fund xAI. And now the two companies are, of course, on the precipice of going public. Whatever. But this fight is about the heart of it.

[00:01:18]Of course. Quote, "This lawsuit is very simple," Elon said. "It is not okay to steal a charity." And he said if Altman and OpenAI are allowed to continue, quote, "It will give license to looting every charity in America."

[00:01:32]This, of course, coming from the man that looted all government aid in America. But he really, really cares, guys. Oh, on top of the $150 billion in damages that he's demanding, Elon also wants OpenAI, now valued at about $730 billion, to unwind its for-profit plans.

[00:01:51]And today Sam Altman was essentially like, "Yeah, no. Elon is lying. He is also a completely unrepentant and crazed capitalist. Gee, I wonder what the jury's going to think of that. And not only is he saying that Elon always wanted to go for profit, he's saying that he's only coming after him now cuz he's a little jelly. It is kind of convenient when you think about it that this is all happening years later once Open AI is as profitable as it is. It is kind of interesting though to think about these two honestly somewhat sociopathic liars duking it out over the truth. Like they're both telling the truth about each other. They're [clears throat] both terrible people. There's so many weird details coming out of this whole trial.

[00:02:31]I wish I could follow it more closely.

[00:02:33]One of those was a couple of weeks ago, I believe, when Musk accused Larry Page of calling him a speciesist. Rough.

[00:02:41]Apparently, this means someone who puts human life over digital life forms, which is not something I think anyone has ever accused Elon of doing, but okay. And apparently, this is what prompted Elon to get into the whole AI game.

[00:02:56]>> Seriously, that's the story you're going with, Elon? You were accused of caring too much about humanity and decided, "You know what? I do." And got into AI. You know, you could solve world hunger if you wanted to. But anyway, this is just steeped in so many layers of irony.

[00:03:10]It is quite literally the biggest capitalists arguing over who is the bigger capitalist. Except they're pointing fingers and saying it's that guy. It's almost like they're admitting that their whole gambit is kind of problematic. Anyway, if Elon somehow prevails in this whole thing, yes, it's going to be terrible for Sam Altman and Open AI, but it's going to be great for all of their AI competitors.

[00:03:33]So, keep that in mind. No matter who wins, everyone loses.