There aren’t many individuals who would dare go head-to-head with Elon Musk—who happens to be world’s richest man and besties with Donald Trump. And most people wouldn’t think twice before accepting an offer close to $100 billion for their startup.

But Sam Altman is doing both. By rejecting Musk’s staggering $97.4 billion bid to buy OpenAI and making sharp remarks about the billionaire’s mindset, Altman has turned what could have been a business rivalry into something far more personal.

On February 11th, Musk and his team made a surprise $97 billion offer to buy OpenAI, one of the world’s top artificial intelligence (AI) companies. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but left in 2018, has been in an ongoing conflict with its CEO, Sam Altman, over the company’s shift toward making profits. Musk claims this move goes against OpenAI’s original goal of prioritizing AI safety.

However, many believe Musk’s real motive is to weaken OpenAI—his biggest competitor—so that his own AI company, xAI, launched in 2023, can take the lead.

But Altman isn’t intimidated by Musk or his $379 billion fortune. Speaking at the Paris AI Action Summit, he dismissed Musk’s takeover bid as just another attempt to disrupt OpenAI. “Elon tries all sorts of things for a long time. This is the latest—you know, this week’s episode,” Altman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “I think he’s probably just trying to slow us down.”

When asked if Musk’s lawsuits and business moves came from insecurity, Altman didn’t hold back. “Probably his whole life is from a position of insecurity. I feel for the guy. I don’t think he’s, like, a happy person,” he said. Musk’s $97.4 billion bid, if accepted, could have put him back in control of OpenAI, but Altman and the board quickly rejected it, stating the company is not for sale. However, the offer may still impact OpenAI’s future, as it sets a new valuation benchmark for the company.

This isn’t the first clash between Musk and OpenAI. In 2024, Musk sued the company twice, accusing it of prioritizing profits over AI safety. OpenAI fired back by releasing past emails showing Musk had once supported making the company for-profit to fund AI research.

Altman, however, doesn’t seem too concerned about Musk’s legal actions.

“I wish he would just compete by building a better product,” Altman said. “But I think there’s been a lot of tactics—many, many lawsuits, all sorts of other crazy stuff, now this. And we’ll try to just put our head down and keep working.” With both men refusing to back down, the battle between Musk and Altman shows no signs of ending.