OpenAI recently-ceo Sam Altman has confirmed that he has officially cancelled his reservation on the much-anticipated Tesla Roadster. After a torturous 7.5 years wait, he finally made it! That decision follows a tumultuous period for OpenAI in the context of its explosive growth and painful rifts with its founding partnership, including Elon Musk. The Tesla Roadster, once hailed as the world’s fastest production car, has seen successive delays that have a lot of early-adopters frustrated.
Altman’s cancellation encapsulates his personal disappointment. It further illumines the smarting patterns of his enduring troubled courtship with Musk. The two were co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, but their paths diverged when Musk resigned from the board in 2018. In the intervening time, Musk has publicly assailed Altman’s leadership as veering away from what he terms the original nonprofit-focused OpenAI mission.
The Roadster’s Ongoing Delays
The current-generation Tesla Roadster was first announced back in 2017 and was originally supposed to start rolling out in 2020. However, production timelines have continuously shifted. Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, recently estimated that the much-anticipated vehicle might finally hit the roads by late 2027.
Can’t wait to see the incredible specs on the Roadster! It can go from 0 to 100 km/h in less than two seconds and has an estimated range of almost 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) on a full charge. While these attributes are promising, the ongoing delays have exasperated countless customers waiting on delivery, Altman included.
Amid these prolonged delays, and with a rapidly changing environment of his professional obligations, Altman opted to cancel his order. He told us that the wait for the Roadster is like a 5-10 year long torture. That said, the ongoing delays have sapped his enthusiasm for the vehicle.
OpenAI’s Corporate Restructuring
At the same time, major changes are occurring at OpenAI, which may affect its future, as well as that of its co-founders. Just last week, OpenAI made headlines when it announced that it had undergone an unusual corporate restructuring. This new arrangement puts the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation in control of its associated for-profit, the OpenAI Group PBC. This change would likely clear the way for OpenAI to pursue a public listing. It is poised to become the first ever open source platform with a $1 trillion valuation.
Musk himself has publicly criticized this reorganization, seeing it as a move away from OpenAI’s original nonprofit purpose. Back in February 2024, he filed a lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI, claiming a violation of the nonprofit’s original mission at its core. After several months of wrangling, in June 2024 Musk withdrew the lawsuit. He did refill it in late August 2024, showing that Altman and him still have some ongoing tension.
The Fallout Between Altman and Musk
The dramatic implosion between Altman and Musk reveals a broad philosophical rift over how artificial intelligence should be developed. Musk has publicly labeled Altman’s leadership as a “betrayal” of the nonprofit’s mission, raising questions about ethical considerations in AI advancements.
OpenAI, which keeps changing as it chases its next commercial move. This internal struggle could affect its image and influence how it operates in the years to come. Altman’s dedication to responsible innovation at OpenAI stands in stark opposition to Musk’s apocalyptic pleas to stop AI development at all costs.
