Sam Altman sported fancy French sunglasses and a big smile Tuesday as he landed for the annual “summer camp for billionaires” in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The white-framed Vuarnets hid the gleam behind the OpenAI CEO’s eyes as he relished the bitter public divorce between Elon Musk and President Trump.
“Elon busts up with everybody, that’s what he does,” the 40-year-old golden boy behind ChatGPT told The Post.
Altman, whose estimated net worth is $1.8 billion according to Forbes, knows about the fiery temperament of the world’s richest person only too well. He founded OpenAI with Musk in 2015.
The men fell out several years ago in a reported spat over whether to move OpenAI and ChatGPT away from its original non-profit mission.
Musk left in 2018, with the pair slugging it out in court and on social media ever since.
Asked if he might want to consider donating to Musk’s recently announced America Party, Altman offered another thinly-veiled dig at his fellow tech bro.
“I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to read about it,” he said of Musk’s pledge to form a rival party, leading Trump to call his former first buddy a “train wreck.”
The view from Altman’s designer glasses looked very different just a few short months ago.
Musk was in the driver’s seat in the race for Trump’s embrace and even sat down at cabinet meetings with administration officials as he embarked on an ambitious scheme to slash Uncle Sam’s spending.
There was also speculation that the South African-born billionaire and former DOGE chief would benefit from further lucrative government contracts that would boost his SpaceX and Starlink projects.
That was until Musk and Trump had the mother of all failings out. The Tesla titan insisted it was because he disagrees with Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Altman began to get into Trump’s good graces by donating $1 million to his inauguration fund in December.
He then appeared at the White House the following month alongside Trump to tout his involvement in the massive $500 billion Stargate AI project – leaving Musk simmering.
The AI industry stands at a crucial crossroads. The White House, supported by this country’s tech titans, wants that sector to be regulated by the federal government, rather than state by state.
They argue that it would be confusing for startups and AI giants alike to deal with a patchwork of regulations across America when the US is gunning to win the artificial intelligence race with China.
“I think something at the federal level focused on the sort of extremely intricate capabilities in a way that makes it easy for smaller companies to do whatever they want to do, but can sort of keep a check on the biggest safety risks,” Altman said..
It would be foolhardy to bet against Musk, even if he is currently locked in an unsightly spat with the most powerful man in the world – who floated the idea of deporting the naturalized American.
But Altman doesn’t need rose-colored glasses to know that Musk can be his own worst enemy.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
