OpenAI CEO Sam Altman got an awkward response from Tesla after asking for his $50K Roadster deposit to be refunded 7 years after paying it
Published on May 15, 2026 at 3:55 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on May 15, 2026 at 3:55 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
Sam Altman and Elon Musk don’t really like each other, that much is clear, and the latest chapter of their rivalry involves the Tesla Roadster.
After a long wait, like other reservation holders, Altman decided to ask for a refund.
Instead, he got a weird response that certainly won’t change his opinion about Musk.
And it feels the two are just getting started.
What’s going on with the Tesla Roadster
The Roadster has been in the works for nearly a decade, but there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, and people are tired of waiting.
To put that in perspective, the $50,000 that people had to pay to reserve one would be worth a fortune it were placed in Tesla stock instead.
Altman, like other would-be Tesla Roadster owners, took to X to complain about the situation
“I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait,” he said on X.
And he’s not alone.
Tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee recently opened up about canceling his $50k deposit, saying he wished he’d done something else with that money.
That’s the first problem, and the second problem comes when people ask for a refund for their deposit.
This is what Elon Musk told Sam Altman
After over seven years of waiting, Altman decided he wanted his money back.
He made the whole situation public on X with a post that was halfway between humorous and salty.
Sam Altman posted a series of screenshots titled ‘A tale in three acts.’
The first screenshot, Act 1, was his original 2018 confirmation with the $45,000 deposit, the second Act was the email he sent to request a refund, and Act 3 was the ‘address not found’ bounce-back notification.
Elon Musk’s response was even sharper.
“And you forgot to mention Act 4, where this issue was fixed and you received a refund within 24 hours. But that is in your nature,” he wrote.
Musk openly said, on more than one occasion, that he doesn’t trust Altman, mostly because he blames him for what OpenAI has become, going from an open-source, non-profit organization to a closed-source, for-profit company.
Musk often reminds everyone that he’s the reason OpenAI exists, because he founded (and funded) it, and that ‘Open’ was the key component of the whole thing.
“Let’s say you funded an organization to save the Amazon rainforest, and instead they became a lumber company, and chopped down the forest, and sold it for money,” Musk said in a CNBC interview with David Faber a while back.
Given the open animosity between the two, it feels like there’s going to be an Act 5, and Act 6, and Act 7…
After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
