{"slug": "if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat", "title": "'If Your Parole Officer Approves': Elon Musk Trashes Sam Altman in Brutal X Spat", "summary": "Elon Musk launched a personal attack on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X, calling him a 'scammer' and joking about a 'parole officer' after Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI. The lawsuit accuses former Apple employees at OpenAI of misappropriating confidential information about unreleased hardware projects. Altman responded by accusing Musk of being 'obsessed' with him, escalating a long-running feud between the two tech leaders.", "body_md": "# 'If Your Parole Officer Approves': Elon Musk Trashes Sam Altman in Brutal X Spat\n\n## Elon Musk's latest X rant against Sam Altman turns Apple's trade secrets lawsuit into a very public feud over AI, hardware ambition and Silicon Valley ego.\n\n[Elon Musk has launched a blistering attack on OpenAI boss Sam Altman on X, mocking him as a 'scammer'](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-grimes-custody-battle-concludes-1805456) and even joking about a parole officer, after Apple filed a major trade secrets lawsuit against Altman's company in California.\n\nThe news came after Apple brought a civil case against OpenAI in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing the ChatGPT maker and former Apple staff of misappropriating confidential information about unreleased products and hardware projects.\n\nCourt records allege that ex-Apple employees now at OpenAI took proprietary data and used internal code names, designs and technical documents to 'jumpstart' OpenAI's own hardware ambitions, a claim Apple says breaches its intellectual property agreements.\n\nFor context, Apple is asking the court to bar OpenAI from using its alleged trade secrets and to force the company to return any confidential material linked to the case.\n\n## Elon Musk Uses X to Call Out Sam Altman\n\nOnce the lawsuit hit the headlines, Elon Musk used X as his preferred stage, replying to a post about Apple's complaint with the put-down: 'Scam Altman strikes again...' He did not stop there, embarking on a posting spree that repeatedly framed the OpenAI chief as a 'scammer,' amplifying supportive replies from users and claiming Altman had 'taken scamming to a whole new level.'\n\nIn another post, Musk told his followers that Altman 'might literally love scamming more than any human alive,' leaning into the personal nature of their long-running feud.\n\nThe [Tesla and SpaceX boss ](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/one-man-vs-165-million-americans-terrifying-wealth-inequality-exposed-elon-musks-net-worth-1805685)has a history of attacking rival AI companies and regulators online, but this burst of activity stood out even by his own standards, mixing serious allegations with the sort of performative outrage that plays well on X's algorithm.\n\nAltman did eventually bite. In one reply, he fired back at Musk with: 'Homeboy, you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters.' The jab appeared to reference Musk's plans for orbital data centres and satellite-linked computing infrastructure, a pitch that Altman clearly views with some scepticism.\n\nMusk responded by doubling down, insisting 'We start flying them next year' and inviting Altman to visit the project, adding: 'Maybe you can come see them if your parole officer approves.'\n\nThere is no suggestion Altman is under any form of criminal supervision, and the remark was framed as a joke, but it underlined how quickly a corporate legal dispute had morphed into personal character attacks between two of Silicon Valley's most visible figures.\n\n## Elon Musk Feud Deepens as Altman Says He Is 'Obsessed'\n\nAltman followed up the back-and-forth with a lone post, saying there were 'a lot of benchmarks that suggest 5.6 sol is the best model in the world right now.' He then added that 'the most reliable way to tell is that [E]lon is obsessed with me again.'\n\nThe remark neatly rolled together technical bragging about OpenAI's model performance with an attempt to shrug off Musk's attacks as more about rivalry than legal substance. Altman later tried to steer the conversation back to the core dispute, telling reporters that he has 'tremendous respect' for Apple, a company where some current OpenAI executives previously worked.\n\nAsked about the lawsuit, an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC: 'We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets,' echoing a public statement in which the firm insists it remains focused on building new technology rather than raiding competitors' confidential projects.\n\nIBTimes UK could not independently verify the detailed allegations made in Apple's filing or the claims flying around X, so take everything lightly.\n\nApple's complaint paints a picture of what it calls 'pervasive' trade secret theft, accusing former employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu of taking confidential engineering documents, unreleased product information and even an Apple-issued laptop loaded with technical files, all to benefit OpenAI's own hardware push.\n\nApple argues this amounts to a coordinated strategy and wants damages, as well as injunctions that would prevent OpenAI from using any of the disputed material.\n\nOfficially, the legal fight is between Apple, OpenAI and the two named former staff, and it will be for the court to decide whether those accusations stand up to scrutiny. Unofficially, however, Musk has seized on the lawsuit as fresh ammunition in his wider war against Altman and the company he once helped to found, before walking away and launching his own [xAI venture](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/elon-musk-xai-loses-trade-secrets-lawsuit-against-openai-1803046).\n\nIt can be recalled that Musk repeatedly criticised OpenAI's direction since his departure, accusing the firm of drifting from its original non-profit mission and becoming, in his view, too closely tied to big corporate interests. His decision to brand Altman 'Scam Altman' in the middle of a high-stakes court case fits that pattern, even if it skirts the edge between commentary and unverified allegation.\n\nApple's suit is one of the clearest examples yet of how the AI arms race is colliding with traditional tech giants' obsession with secrecy over upcoming products.\n\nHardware and AI are converging, and when engineers move between companies carrying intimate knowledge of design choices, suppliers and manufacturing techniques, it is hardly surprising that lawyers step in to define where experience ends and theft begins.\n\nThe human sub-plot, though, is that two men who helped shape the modern AI boom are now trading insults about parole officers and 'obsession' in full public view, while a separate legal machine slowly grinds through its paperwork in San Francisco.\n\nWhether Musk's online barrage has any real impact on the case is questionable, but it has certainly reframed a dense trade secrets dispute as the latest mad episode in Silicon Valley's long-running drama over power, ego and who is really building the future.\n\n© Copyright IBTimes 2025. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat", "canonical_source": "https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-brutal-x-spat-1808330", "published_at": "2026-07-13 11:51:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-13 12:10:13.417923+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Elon Musk", "Sam Altman", "OpenAI", "Apple", "X"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/if-your-parole-officer-approves-elon-musk-trashes-sam-altman-in-brutal-x-spat.jsonld"}}