Twitter owner Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft over “illegal” use of the platform’s data.
On Wednesday (April 19), Twitter’s in-house news account said that Microsoft’s advertising platform would stop supporting Twitter due to the social media company’s requirement for payment for API access.
“They trained illegally using Twitter data,” Musk responded. “Lawsuit time.”
Reached by PYMNTS, Microsoft declined to comment. A message to Twitter’s press office received the same reply as all media requests: a smiling “poop” emoji.
A report Wednesday by The Verge notes that Musk’s oblique threat is apparently connected to OpenAI using data from Twitter to train its ChatGPT tool. While OpenAI is a separate company, it is heavily backed by Microsoft, which is building artificial intelligence (AI) into products like its search engine Bing.
Also building an AI tool? Musk.
As noted here last week, the multi-billionaire — who also owns Tesla and SpaceX — has been quietly putting together a crew of engineers and purchasing processors to create AI tech to rival that ChatGPT and other GPT-4 large language models (LLMs).
A report by the Financial Times said Musk had purchased thousands of high-powered GPU processors from Nvidia, referring to the high-end chops needed to build LLMs. which can take in vast amounts of content and generate humanlike writing or realistic images.
Musk went into more detail about his plans this week in an interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, noting that the AI heavyweights — OpenAI and DeepMind — were tied to Microsoft and Google, respectively.
“I think I will create a third option,” Musk said. “I’ll be starting very late in the game, of course.”
Musk said his TruthGPT will be a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.”
“This might be the best path to safety in that an AI that cares about understanding the universe is unlikely to annihilate humans because we are an interesting part of the universe — hopefully, they would think that,” Musk said.
“While not entirely unexpected by some AI pundits, Musk’s dive into generative AI as his next world to conquer is ironic,” PYMNTS wrote last week. “He was among the first signatories to an open letter published by AI watchdog group Future of Life Institute in March on the potential dangers of AI.”
That letter argues AI is a threat to jobs worldwide, as well as “control of our civilization” and calls for a six-month pause on the training of AI systems more advanced than GPT-4.
“Perhaps Musk will time the announcement of his new and as-yet-unnamed AI venture until August when that proposed six-month moratorium passes,” PYMNTS wrote.
Another irony at play is Musk’s role as one of the co-founders of OpenAI, a company he parted ways with five years ago, purportedly over disagreements with his co-founders over the commercialization of its product.
Most consumers are members of loyalty or rewards programs, whether for supermarkets, hotels, airlines, car rental companies, retailers or coffee shops. But these businesses, after enticing consumers to sign up to get a freebie, infrequently or even maybe never hear from them again.
According to Dani Mariano, president of Razorfish, the average American is enrolled in 19 loyalty programs but they actively using only nine. Long a staple of brand marketing, loyalty programs need to be reinvented to raise consumer engagement.
Mariano, one of the panelists at at SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas, added that consumers are overwhelmed by fragmented loyalty programs that fail to deliver meaningful value.
Can Web3 — blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs — solve the problem?
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that enables secure, transparent and immutable recordkeeping. It is best known for securing cryptocurrencies but has other applications. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets stored on a blockchain that represent ownership of a specific item or piece of content, like artwork, music or digital goods.
During the SXSW 2025 panel, speakers said Web3 can raise customer engagement on loyalty programs, but it depends on how it is deployed. The approach must be holistic, addressing the whole consumer instead of a transactional relationship, they said.
Chris Outram, head of blockchain at Publicis Media, recounted the example of a well-known brand that launched an NFT project at great cost. But it wasn’t effective because the company was bundling existing benefits into a new form instead of changing the entire rewards program.
Consumers felt they weren’t getting any new benefits, Outram said. “There’s no exclusivity. It just felt like they were repackaging.”
Consumers want brands to know them better, said Nicole Wojtalewicz, vice president of marketing and customer engagement at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO). It’s no longer enough to offer freebies. Consumers want a deeper connection with brands that recognize them and provide experiences tailored to their preferences.
The speakers’ comments dovetail with PYMNTS Intelligence research that shows a majority of consumers want brands to offer personalized rewards programs and will shop with those brands and merchants that offer those incentives.
In fact, 67% of consumers want rewards from the merchant they last shopped, according to PYMNTS data.
Outram said brands implement these programs to collect consumer data, yet they often struggle to translate that data into long-term engagement. The result is disparate programs that seek greater consumer participation without offering a rewarding experience.
Read more: Retail’s Digital Tipping Point: Payments Plus Rewards With a Lot More Mobile
“One of the problems with loyalty programs is that they’re very siloed,” said Outram. He said blockchain can break down these silos, enabling interoperability between different loyalty programs and creating a more unified ecosystem for consumers.
Blockchain-based interoperability means breaking down walls between brand ecosystems. Outram described a future where airline miles, retail points and coffee shop rewards exist in a shared network, eliminating the inefficiency of multiple isolated programs. “If we can unify these systems, consumers will see real value, and engagement will increase,” he said.
Vlad Avesalon, CEO of Vennity, said ownership is key in this new paradigm. Blockchain technology allows consumers to own their loyalty rewards rather than merely participate in a brand-controlled system. This shift, he argued, transforms loyalty from a transactional relationship into a genuine asset.
Beyond transactions, brands could also reward engagement, whether through content creation, social media advocacy or participation in brand communities. Outram cited a retailer that rewarded creators for sharing creative content featuring their products, making them brand ambassadors.
The panelists also discussed the impact of digital goods in reshaping consumer perceptions of value. Avesalon said in the gaming industry, virtual assets hold real value, particularly among young consumers.
“More than 60% (of the younger generation) value online goods more than they do physical, so there’s definitely a shift happening,” Avesalon said. This value the young place on their digital life will open opportunities in the future for loyalty programs, he added.
A key area of innovation is the intersection of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI). Outram said blockchain’s transparency could enhance AI-driven personalization, enabling brands to deliver hyper-targeted rewards and experiences. Avesalon envisioned AI-powered agents that act on behalf of consumers, managing their rewards and even interacting with brands to maximize value. Imagine having an “NFT that’s tied to a personalized agent that’s trained on your data and caters to you,” he said.
Despite its potential, blockchain adoption faces significant roadblocks. Brands like Nike have experimented with blockchain-based digital goods, but many companies remain hesitant due to the complexities of implementation, the panelists said.
Regulatory concerns, particularly in financial services, also pose challenges that must be addressed before widespread implementation. Wojtalewicz acknowledged that while blockchain enhances security and transparency, compliance remains a major hurdle.
Scalability is another issue. Avesalon referenced the Starbucks Odyssey Web3 loyalty program, which, despite its innovative approach, struggled with technical challenges and was shut down. Until blockchain usability improves, brands will continue to face adoption barriers, panelists said.
Looking ahead, the panelists envisioned a future where loyalty programs are more interoperable, personalized and community-driven. Wojtalewicz stressed the need for programs to function across multiple brands and industries, rather than remaining isolated within proprietary ecosystems.
Avesalon proposed a model where consumers themselves distribute rewards within a decentralized community, shifting the power dynamics of traditional loyalty programs. Outram underscored the importance of experimentation, urging brands to embrace emerging technologies despite the risks.
SXSW 2025 panelists Nicole Wojtalewicz of FNBO, Vlad Avesalon of Vennity, Chris Outram of Publicis Media and Dani Mariano of Razorfish.