The feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman – explained

The day after OpenAI launched in December 2015, its co-founder Sam Altman sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss what the magazine described as "a non-profit company to save the world from a dystopian future". Altman talked up his vision for keeping artificial intelligence safe and distributing it widely, as well as his good working relationship with his co-chair – Tesla CEO Elon Musk. "I really trust him, which is obviously important to everyone involved," Altman said. Almost a decade later, Musk and Altman are locked in a public spat and looming legal battle that revolves around the end of their previous partnership and OpenAI's creation of a for-profit subsidiary now valued at 80bn. Musk filed a suit against OpenAI in a California court last week, alleging that Altman and other executives had "breached the founding agreement" of the company by pursuing private commercial success instead of working to benefit humanity.