Elon Musk’s biggest rival just cancelled his Tesla Roadster preorder

Elon Musk’s long-time rival, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has officially cancelled his reservation for Tesla’s long-delayed Roadster, ending a wait that lasted more than seven years.

Altman revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that he had decided to pull the plug on his Tesla Roadster preorder, which he initially reserved with a $50,000 deposit on July 11, 2018.

Frustrated by the endless delays, the OpenAI chief said he finally emailed Tesla to request a refund.

“Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50k?” Altman wrote in an email to Tesla.

However, instead of a response from Tesla, Altman received a bounce-back error message, reportedly from Google, indicating the email address he used was no longer active.

Explaining his decision, Altman clarified that it wasn’t about his rivalry with Musk but about patience running out:

“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.”

The move comes amid an escalating feud between the two tech titans, whose relationship soured after OpenAI shifted from a nonprofit to a for-profit company.

Musk has repeatedly accused Altman of betraying OpenAI’s founding mission and even launched multiple lawsuits against the firm, while his own AI startup, xAI, continues to compete directly with OpenAI.