Editor's note: This story discusses serious mental health crises that may include suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, help is available. Call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and you can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. For additional resources, such as online chat lines and help for more specific situations, visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com or the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are publicly feuding on X, NDTV reported.
Musk, fresh off a days-long stint trading barbs with Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, was once pals with Altman. Their relationship frayed in 2018 over the direction of OpenAI, which Altman claims Musk sought to "merge" with Tesla.
Tensions between the CEOs escalated in the fall. Musk's xAI sued Altman's OpenAI, alleging that Altman poached Musk's talent in what he called a "deeply troubling pattern."
Altman, apparently no stranger to the pot-stirring department himself, then used his rival's own social media platform, X, to vent about the deposit he left on a never-delivered Tesla Roadster.
In the most recent instance, Musk (@elonmusk) appeared to pick a fight with Altman vis-à-vis a Jan. 20 tweet warning X users to steer clear of OpenAI's flagship product, ChatGPT.
Don't let your loved ones use ChatGPT https://t.co/730gz9XTJ2
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 20, 2026
Musk retweeted a text-only tweet with no article and no source to substantiate his assertion.
It read: "BREAKING: ChatGPT has now been linked to 9 deaths tied to its use, and in 5 cases its interactions are alleged to have led to death by suicide, including teens and adults."
"Don't let your loved ones use ChatGPT," Musk wrote.
The decision to take OpenAI's ChatGPT to task for alleged safety flaws was an interesting direction for Musk to pursue at the time.
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Musk's xAI launched its own chatbot, Grok, in November 2023. By 2025, Grok was a frequent tech news topic, but rarely for positive reasons.
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No way 🙅 Earlier in the year, Grok exhibited strange behavior on several occasions. In one instance, it spontaneously began ranting about racial conflicts in Musk's home country of South Africa. In another, it openly espoused antisemitic rhetoric.
Tesla added Grok functionality to vehicles. In the fall, a version of the chatbot allegedly asked a driver's child for racy photographs.
In December, concerns over Grok's ability to create lifelike imagery raised international alarm. It was especially concerning given the age of some of the subjects that the chatbot's users were violating by "undressing" them.
A third-party analysis found that Grok generated thousands of explicit images per hour. The chatbot was banned in two countries as a result.
Altman thought along similar lines in a Jan. 20 tweet responding to Musk's.
He maintained that reported deaths linked with ChatGPT were "tragic and complicated situations that deserve to be treated with respect." He spoke in a manner that was strikingly dissimilar to Musk's handling of criticism.
"It is genuinely hard; we need to protect vulnerable users, while also making sure our guardrails still allow all of our users to benefit from our tools," Altman continued.
Nevertheless, the OpenAI CEO managed to include a delicate burn at the end of his lengthy statement to Musk. Altman alleged that "more than 50" deaths were linked to Tesla's Autopilot.
"You take 'every accusation is a confession' so far," Altman concluded.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of self-harm, help is available. Call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and you can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. For additional resources, such as online chat lines and help for more specific situations, visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com or the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
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