Elon Musk launches $94.7bn bid to buy OpenAI back from rival Sam ...
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Elon Musk's Bid for OpenAI
Elon Musk and a consortium of investors have launched a $94.7 billion bid to buy artificial intelligence leader OpenAI. A lawyer for the Tesla and SpaceX boss submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement to The Journal. “We will make sure that happens.”
Rivalry with Sam Altman
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly shot down the deal. “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
If completed, the deal would give Musk, who helped found (and fund) OpenAI in 2015, unprecedented influence over the direction of the rapidly advancing A.I. field even as he is deeply embedded in the Trump administration.
Original Purpose of OpenAI
Both men were among the 11 original co-founders of OpenAI, which was created as a non-profit with a mission to ensure that any future powerful A.I. would benefit all of humanity. Originally founded as a non-profit, Altman has made the organization steadily more commercial, creating a for-profit subsidiary in 2019 meant to incentivize outside investment while still remaining under the control of the non-profit board.
Legal Battles and Feuds
The rivalry came to a head in September 2024, when it was reported that Altman was planning to completely convert OpenAI into a public benefit corporation. Musk, who had by then created his own rival for-profit A.I. firm called xAI, swiftly took legal action against OpenAI, alleging that it had betrayed its principles in order to “cash in” and was violating the terms of Musk’s original donations to the non-profit.
Since then, the two have been openly warring on Twitter, with Musk calling Altman a “swinder” while Altman branded his rival “not a nice person.”
Implications of the Buyout Offer
Musk’s buyout offer could complicate OpenAI’s role in Project Stargate, a recently announced joint partnership of OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank with promises to invest up to $500 billion dollars to grow A.I in America.
