There's a certain irony in watching two tech titans battle it out when one of them once asked the other for career advice. Back in 2016, Sam Altman posed a question to Elon Musk that plenty of ambitious entrepreneurs have wondered: "I want to be the next Elon Musk, how do I do that?"
Musk's answer wasn't about building a personal brand or networking strategies. Instead, he talked about something more fundamental that shaped how he built Tesla Inc. (TSLA), SpaceX, and eventually his ventures into artificial intelligence.
The Philosophy of Being Useful
During the discussion posted on Y Combinator's YouTube channel, Musk walked through his thinking from his college years. He identified five major areas that fascinated him: making life multiplanetary, accelerating sustainable energy, building the Internet, exploring genetics, and advancing artificial intelligence.
His early work focused on electric vehicles and energy storage technologies, including advanced ultracapacitors. But in 1995, he pivoted to an Internet startup, recognizing a critical moment for technology that demanded immediate action.
The key insight? Musk explained that pursuing a PhD might have generated academically valuable knowledge, but it wouldn't necessarily create practical impact in the real world. He wanted to focus on work that could make an actual difference.
"I didn't expect to be involved in all of those things," Musk said. "I really was just trying to be useful. That's the optimization, it's like what can I do that would actually be useful."
That philosophy has served him well. Musk currently has a net worth of $467 billion, making him the wealthiest person on Earth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. Beyond Tesla and SpaceX, he's added Neuralink and The Boring Company to his portfolio of ventures aimed at solving what he views as humanity's biggest challenges.
How a Partnership Turned Into a Feud
Altman first met Musk over a decade ago at SpaceX headquarters in California. The two connected over their shared interest in AI and concerns about centralized control in AI development.
In 2015, Altman pitched Musk on creating OpenAI, framing it as a "Manhattan Project for solving AI" that could compete with tech giants like Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google. Musk provided early funding and support, becoming one of the organization's key backers.
But the collaboration didn't last. By 2017 and 2018, tensions emerged over OpenAI's strategy, funding requirements, and Musk's push for greater control over the organization's direction. He resigned from the board in early 2018, severing his direct involvement with the company he helped launch.
A Rivalry That Spans Industries
Since leaving OpenAI, Musk has become one of the company's loudest critics. He's filed multiple lawsuits alleging nonprofit violations and antitrust concerns, arguing that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission by shifting toward profit-making.
In 2025, Musk even attempted a $97 billion bid for OpenAI before withdrawing the offer. Meanwhile, Altman has begun expanding into Musk's territory, investing in space companies like Stoke Space and positioning himself as a competitor to SpaceX's dominance in the launch industry.
The rivalry now plays out across multiple fronts. Altman's OpenAI and Musk's xAI are increasingly head-to-head competitors in artificial intelligence development, each racing to advance large language models and AI capabilities.
It's a remarkable transformation from that 2016 conversation when Altman was seeking Musk's wisdom on building a career. Now they're building competing empires, with Altman's moves into space mirroring Musk's expansion into AI. The student, it seems, learned the lessons well, even if the teacher might not be thrilled with the results.
