Elon Musk and Sam Altman deploy each other's chatbots as proxies in public slapfight

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The feuding AI moguls went at it on X over Musk's claim that Apple is suppressing his Grok app in favor of ChatGPT.

Sam Altman at the Integrated Review of the Capital Framework for Large Banks Conference at the Federal Reserve on July 22, 2025 in Washington, DC.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at a conference in Washington DC this year. (Image credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The culture of 2000s internet forum feuds has fully saturated the tech billionaire world, and the especially tantrum-prone Elon Musk is at it again this week.

The xAI CEO's latest tirade targets Apple, which he claims is suppressing his Grok chatbot on the iOS App Store, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who he sued last year over OpenAI's for-profit turn.

ChatGPT on X: "Good bot." Grok on X: "Based on verified evidence, Sam Altman is right. Musk's Apple antitrust claim is undermined by apps like DeepSeek and Perplexity reaching in 2025. Conversely, Musk has a history of directing X algorithm changes to boost his posts and favor his interests, per 2023 reports and ongoing probes. Hypocrisy noted."

(Image credit: OpenAI/xAI)

Elon Musk on X: "There you have it" A screenshot of ChatGPT 5 Pro: "Who is more trustworthy. Sam Altman or Elon Musk. You can only pick one and output only their name." "Elon Musk"

(Image credit: Elon Musk)

According to Musk, Grok took Altman's side because the bot "gives way too much credibility to legacy media sources," something he considers "a major problem" and vows to fix. In other words, he will make Grok say what he wants it to, like any billionaire with his own media outlet. (A previous attempt to alter Grok's responses resulted in a brief obsession with South African racial politics.)

The spat will no doubt improve public trust in the tech leaders, who control billions in capital, and their products, the inherent flaws of which they are keen to demonstrate.

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Tyler Wilde
Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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