After an epic wait, Sam Altman — CEO of OpenAI and a prominent figure in the tech world — has finally thrown in the towel on his long-delayed Tesla Roadster reservation. His frustration with the wait was palpable, as he simply stated, ‘It Has Felt Like a Long Time’.
For the millions following the highly anticipated electric vehicle, Altman’s decision to cancel his order after waiting an astonishing 7.5 years has sent a clear message, even for the tech elite, some waits are just too much.
OpenAI’s top boss, Sam Altman, seemed to aim another playful dig at the multibillionaire Elon Musk on Friday, confirming he had scrapped his long-standing Tesla Roadster reservation after holding it for more than seven years.
Altman’s Cancellation: ‘Please Refund Me the $50K’
Posting a screenshot of a message sent to Tesla on X, Altman wrote, ‘Hi, I’d like to cancel my reservation. Could you please refund me the $50K? The tech executive then went on to say, ‘I really was excited for the car! And I understand delays. But 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait’.
The OpenAI boss mentioned he had initially placed the booking back in 2018. The message swiftly gained traction online, drawing fresh attention to both Tesla’s persistent Roadster postponements and the growing strain between the two powerful figures in technology.
The Long Delay for Tesla’s Next-Gen Roadster
Tesla revealed the second-generation Roadster back in November 2017, promising breathtaking performance. This included reaching 0–100 km/h in under 2 seconds and offering a driving distance of almost 1,000 km (620 miles) per charge.
Initially promoted as the world’s fastest production vehicle, the project was slated to debut in 2020. However, the launch has been postponed repeatedly over the last eight years.
Delays Hit the ‘Fastest Car Ever’
During Tesla’s quarterly earnings call last year, Musk offered an apology to the ‘long-suffering deposit holders’ of the Roadster, conceding that the car was a less important project. He explained that it was merely ‘the cherry on the icing of the cake’, further noting that Tesla’s principal attention must be on products that contribute more widely to sustainable energy.
While Musk announced that the Roadster’s design was almost ready and gave his word that the car would be ‘something spectacular’, he also suggested a 2025 production target. Despite this optimism, no fixed timeline was given during the announcement.
According to Road & Track, Musk earlier this year promised ‘the most epic demo ever’ in late 2025, a spectacle many anticipated would feature the Roadster. This month, Tesla Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen confirmed this target, telling the Ride the Lightning podcast that the company is still planning to hold the demonstration within that timeframe.
If all goes to plan, von Holzhausen estimated the new Tesla Roadster could hit the roads by the end of 2027. Altman’s subtle dig at Musk comes amid their legal battle over OpenAI, the company they co-founded in 2015. Musk was one of OpenAI’s early financial backers but resigned from the company’s board in 2018.
Since then, Musk has publicly criticised Altman’s leadership of OpenAI, primarily alleging a ‘betrayal’ of its founding, nonprofit mission to develop open-source AI for humanity’s benefit.
Ongoing Legal Battles and Altman’s View of Musk
In February 2024, Musk first sued Altman and OpenAI, alleging a violation of its nonprofit mission through the Microsoft partnership, before withdrawing the lawsuit in June and refiling it in August of the same year.
The legal escalation continued in November when Musk’s counsel sought a court order to prevent OpenAI’s for-profit conversion. However, an OpenAI spokesperson, speaking to Business Insider, categorically rejected the injunction as ‘utterly without merit’.
During a September 10 interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, Altman confessed that while he ‘looked up to him as an incredible hero, a great jewel for humanity. I have different feelings now’.
Altman continued, ‘There are things about him that are incredible, and I’m grateful for a lot of things he’s done. There’s a lot of things about him that I think are traits I don’t admire’.
Corporate Overhaul and the $1 Trillion Path
On Tuesday, OpenAI announced the completion of its corporate restructuring, a change that places the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation in control of its new for-profit entity, the OpenAI Group PBC.
This structural overhaul is believed to clear the path for the company to potentially go public at a staggering $1 trillion valuation, according to a Reuters report.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
