Sam Altman Hits Back at Elon Musk Over ChatGPT Safety Claims
Decrypt
“Don't let your loved ones use ChatGPT”
Elon Musk20 January 2026- What you'll lose0/5
Nothing taken.
- Condescension2/5
Five words, aimed at a rival.
- Tone-deafness3/5
Shared death figures that Forbes said could not be verified.
- Doom2/5
A rival's product as a danger to your family.
- Hypocrisy4/5
Grok's own image scandal was days old.
Full time11 pitchforksof a possible 25
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The occasion
X (post), 20 January 2026.
Context
Musk quote-posted an account's claim that ChatGPT had been linked to nine deaths, five of them suicides, with this warning. Forbes, cited by IBTimes, said the figures came from an influencer account and could not be verified. Sam Altman replied within hours.
Crowd reaction
Widespread criticism
Sam Altman replied: 'Sometimes you complain about ChatGPT being too restrictive, and then in cases like this you claim it's too relaxed', then pointed to Tesla: 'Apparently more than 50 people have died from crashes related to Autopilot'. Decrypt wrote that Altman 'accused Musk of hypocrisy'; Ynetnews headlined 'Mud-slinging peaks'.
- Primary source, post
- Decrypt: Sam Altman Hits Back at Elon Musk Over ChatGPT Safety Claims
- IBTimes UK: ChatGPT Linked to Nine Deaths Including Five Suicides, Elon Musk Says Keep Your Family Away
- Complex: ChatGPT Murder-Suicide: Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman Clash Over Dangers of AI
- Interesting Engineering: Altman fires back at Musk over Tesla Autopilot deaths and Grok AI
- Ynetnews: Mud-slinging peaks as Musk warns about ChatGPT and Altman fires back on Tesla deaths
- Where the exact words are printed