Apple sues OpenAI, Musk calls him “just a big fraud,” and Altman replies, “You’re the one who keeps talking up space data centers.”

The spat between Elon Musk and Sam Altman has escalated again, as both parties’ AI companies released flagship new models in the same week, making the rivalry especially full of competitive heat.

On July 11, Musk posted on X, accusing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman of “taking fraud to a whole new height,” with his sights set on OpenAI’s business conduct toward users and customers.

Altman promptly fired back, delivering a jab at Musk for pitching the concept of “short-term space data centers” to investors in the public markets.

Musk then countered, saying Altman not only “stole an open-source AI charity,” but was also accused of “stealing Apple’s phone technology” amid the lawsuit between Apple and OpenAI, and mocking that he needs to get approval from a parole officer just to travel.

The back-and-forth happened in the same week that OpenAI released GPT-5.6 and SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5. The two products directly went head-to-head in the AI agent track, adding even more market interest to the feud.

Musk fires first; Altman responds about space data centers

According to Musk’s July 11 post on X, he took aim at Altman in blunt, tough language. Altman then reshared the post and replied, saying:

Dude, you’re the one selling short-term space data centers to public-market investors.

Musk hit back again immediately, saying these space data centers “will start flying next year,” and made a sly remark that maybe Altman could come for a visit if his “parole officer” approves.

Musk further accused Altman of “first stealing an open-source AI charity, and then stealing all of Apple’s mobile phone technology,” and followed up with:

What’s next? It’s hard to top this.

The “Apple technology” Musk referred to is directly tied to a lawsuit Apple recently filed against OpenAI.

Wall Street Insight noted that on Friday, Apple filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It accuses OpenAI of deliberately inciting Apple employees to leak information, components, schematics, and other materials related to unreleased products, to support its plan to develop its own hardware devices.

Apple asked OpenAI to immediately stop the relevant conduct, destroy all proprietary materials involved, and redesign the upcoming products to ensure they contain no Apple technology.

OpenAI responded that it has no interest in other companies’ trade secrets and remains focused on building innovative technology.

This lawsuit is expected to profoundly affect the direction of cooperation between the two companies. OpenAI has long provided key technical support for Apple’s Apple Intelligence platform and the Siri voice assistant, and the two firms’ partnership was officially announced two years ago at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

GPT-5.6 vs Grok 4.5, the two flagship models compete on the same stage

This week, OpenAI and SpaceXAI respectively rolled out their latest flagship models, setting up a direct showdown.

OpenAI launched GPT-5.6, while SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5. Both products are positioned as AI agents—agent-style models that can autonomously handle multi-step tasks. In terms of performance positioning, the two products each focus on different strengths:

• GPT-5.6 stands out in broad reasoning, business workflows, and network security;
• Grok 4.5 is more efficient in autonomous programming and developer workflows, and its usage costs are lower than GPT-5.6.

However, in capability dimensions such as abstract reasoning, the OpenAI model still leads Grok.

For investors and enterprise users, the differentiated positioning of the two products means the choice depends on the specific use case. Enterprises seeking all-around reasoning power may lean toward GPT-5.6, while developers who prioritize cost-effectiveness and code automation may be even more inclined toward Grok 4.5.

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