Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reacted sharply to Sam Altman’s remarks about office productivity tools like Slack, saying that the ChatGPT-maker OpenAI will “compete directly with Microsoft”. Sam Altman, founder and CEO of OpenAI recently said that while there are many positives about Slack, it also creates a “lot of fake work”. In a now viral clip, Altman about how current workplace tools — such as Slack, Google Docs, email, and PowerPoint — may soon be replaced by a new generation of AI-driven systems.“There are positives about Slack,” Altman said, “but I kind of dread the first hour of the morning or last time before I go to bed, where I’m just dealing with this explosion of Slack. It creates a lot of fake work.”Altman added that he believes a new kind of AI-powered productivity platform is within reach — one where “your AI agent and my AI agent” will handle most communication and tasks, escalating only when necessary.Elon Musk, who has long been critical of OpenAI’s close partnership with Microsoft, responded on X (formerly known as Twitter) with a pointed remark: “As I was saying, OpenAI will compete directly with Microsoft.”In another post on X, Musk wrote: “At this point, it’s insanely suicidal for Microsoft to continue supporting OpenAI”The exchange comes as AI companies race to redefine workplace productivity. While Microsoft has heavily invested in “Copilot” features across its apps, Altman’s comments suggest OpenAI could be developing its own tools that may compete in the same space.In a recent post shared on X, Altman suggested that the company is planning another major new business venture, putting it in direct competition with cloud technology giants, including Google, Amazon and Microsoft.Altman wrote in the post: “We are also looking at ways to more directly sell compute capacity to other companies (and people); we are pretty sure the world is going to need a lot of ‘AI cloud’, and we are excited to offer this.”This means OpenAI could soon start selling cloud services, putting it in competition with established providers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud. In September, OpenAI Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sarah Friar made a similar point, suggesting that cloud providers had been “learning on our dime.” Her comment indicated that OpenAI was looking to safeguard its AI expertise from technology companies that may use its developments to advance their own capabilities.
