Elon Musk Vows to Revamp Grok Following Dispute with OpenAI CEO

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Elon Musk said Tuesday his social media platform X is working to fix its AI chatbot, Grok, after it sided with rival tech chief and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in an ongoing dispute with Musk, who threatened to sue Apple on Monday night over allegations it favors OpenAI in its app store.

The spat between Musk and Altman began Monday night, when Musk accused Apple of favoring OpenAI in the App Store. (Photo by Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Anadolu via Getty Images

Key Facts

The spat was sparked when Musk alleged that Apple does not allow any AI company besides OpenAI to reach No. 1 in the App Store.

Altman responded by saying he had “heard” Musk boosted his own engagement on X, calling Musk’s allegation a “remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”

Altman linked to a story from tech news outlet Platformer claiming Musk pressured X engineers to make changes that would benefit engagement on his posts following the 2023 Super Bowl.

Grok, when asked by another X user to weigh in, sided with Altman, saying, “Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes.”

Musk called the claims “false defamatory statements” and said Grok gives way too much credibility to legacy media sources,” saying it was a “major problem” X is working to fix, but also said it spoke to the integrity of the platform.

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Tangent

During the spat, Musk appeared frustrated with the three million views Altman’s response initially received, noting Altman has far fewer X followers, calling the OpenAI CEO a liar and saying his post was “bull****.” Altman responded with “skill issue,” a term used in gaming to describe someone who lacks the skill to complete an objective in a game. Altman also said his high engagement could have been due to bots and added he would apologize if Musk signed an affidavit that he has never ordered changes to X’s algorithm that would hurt competitors or help his own companies.

Contra

AI companies outside of OpenAI have reached the No. 1 spot on the App Store, contradicting Musk’s claims. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek rocketed to the top spot in the App Store in January, when it made waves for claiming it was far cheaper while being just as efficient as models produced by other AI competitors like OpenAI. AI search engine firm Perplexity also made the No. 1 spot on the App Store in India back in July.

Key Background

Musk and Altman have publicly feuded on multiple occasions, often trading gripes about their rivaling businesses, their policies and chatbot products. Both of the tech figures are among OpenAI’s 11 cofounders, though Musk left the company’s board of directors in 2018 and later formed his own startup, xAI, in 2023. Musk’s startup developed and framed Grok as an anti-“woke” version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This year, OpenAI became part of a $500 billion tech initiative announced by President Donald Trump, who told reporters in January that Musk “doesn’t like one of those people” involved in the program, potentially referring to Altman. Musk made a series of tweets blasting the initiative, leading Altman to say, “just one more mean tweet and then maybe you’ll love yourself…” Musk made an unsolicited $94.7 billion bid for OpenAI in February but Altman insisted the company was “not for sale” and that the offer from Musk was meant to “slow us down.”