Sam Altman praises the Tesla Roadster he gave up on

Business rivals rarely clap for each other in public. When they do, the applause usually tells you more about the moment than about the product.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman have spent years proving the point. The two co-founded OpenAI, split over its direction and then took their fight to X, to the courts and to the race to build the most powerful AI models.

Their feud even reached Musk’s car company. In 2025, Altman posted about trying to cancel the Tesla Roadster reservation he made in 2018, and Musk fired back by accusing Altman of stealing a nonprofit, TechCrunch reported.

So the post that showed up on Altman’s X account at midday on Friday, Oct. 16, caught people off guard. “Wow the new roadster looks quite amazing, good job @elonmusk,” Altman wrote, a day after Tesla (TSLA) revealed the long-delayed sports car at a SpaceX test site in Texas.

Altman’s own Roadster saga started in 2018

Altman paid a $50,000 reservation fee for a Roadster in 2018, according to TechCrunch. When he tried to cancel last fall, his email to Tesla bounced, and he shared screenshots of the saga on X.

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He said he had been really excited about the car but that seven and a half years had felt like a long wait. Musk replied that the problem was fixed and Altman was refunded within 24 hours, a claim TechCrunch noted it had not independently confirmed.

That history makes Friday’s post read as more than a polite compliment. Altman is praising a product he personally walked away from.

Trump and Pichai also cheered the reveal

The Roadster drew applause from people who rarely agree with Musk, or with each other. President Donald Trump called the car very impressive, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sent his congratulations and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis posted a one-word “Wow!”, according to a Washington Post report republished by The Peninsula.

Related: Zuckerberg, Musk, and Huang take key stand on huge AI issue

Pichai went a step further, joking that a self-driving version of the car would be something to see, Stocktwits reported on Yahoo Finance.

I couldn’t find a public reply from Musk to Altman’s post as of Saturday morning, Oct. 17. Given the history, the silence is notable on its own.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman praised Tesla’s new Roadster, telling Elon Musk “good job” in an Oct. 16 X post.

Chris Allan / Getty Images

Why the Musk-Altman legal feud still matters to investors

The legal fight is not over. On May 18, a federal jury in Oakland, Calif., ruled unanimously against Musk, finding he had waited too long to sue, Al Jazeera reported. Musk had sued over Altman’s taking OpenAI from a not-for-profit to a hybrid structure.

Here’s where things stand, according to court coverage:

Musk sought up to $134 billion in what he called ill-gotten gains, plus the removal of Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, The Decoder reported.

Musk called the outcome a “calendar technicality” and said he would appeal to the Ninth Circuit, the same outlet reported.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said substantial evidence supported the jury’s finding, signaling an uphill appeal, according to Al Jazeera.

The rivalry has also moved closer to Tesla’s core business. OpenAI launched a dedicated robotics division on May 31, TheStreet reported, putting it on a collision course with Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program.

In my analysis, that’s why a friendly post from Altman deserves a second look from Tesla shareholders. Competitors praise a product most easily when they don’t see it as a threat to their own plans.

The refund lesson for anyone eyeing a deposit

Altman got his money back, but most buyers don’t have a public platform and a billionaire rival reading their posts. Tesla has now reopened Roadster reservations with terms that look a lot like the ones Altman signed up for.

The Performance version asks for $5,000 up front and $45,000 more within ten days, Electrek reported. Tesla still hasn’t announced a price, and it targets production in 2028.

If you put $50,000 down, you’re lending Tesla money with no interest and no delivery date. Altman waited seven and a half years before asking for his back.

Tesla earnings and Musk’s appeal come next

Tesla reports third-quarter results after the close on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The stock fell 2.13% to $354.72 on Friday as early enthusiasm over the Roadster faded, The Motley Fool reported.

Musk’s appeal will take months, and the trash talk could return at any point. For now, the most public reconciliation between the two came from a ten-word post about a car Altman gave up waiting for.

A compliment costs nothing. A $50,000 deposit costs plenty, and Altman knows the difference better than most.

Related: Tesla rival appears to have a demand problem

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