Elon Musk is leading a group of investors in a $97.4 billion bid to take control of OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company that operates ChatGPT.
In a post on social media, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded, “[N]o thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” referring to the social media app Musk bought for $44 billion in 2022.
Musk’s offer to buy ChatGPT was reported first by the Wall Street Journal.
The offer comes amid years of conflict between Musk and Altman over the direction of OpenAI, which Musk helped to found in 2015. Musk, the world’s richest person with a net worth of more than $400 billion, sued Altman and OpenAI last year, alleged that the AI company had veered away form its mission to benefit the public, among other claims.
The offer comes as OpenAI is seeking to transform into a for-profit business, a decision that it said would help the AI company pursue its mission of ensuring the technology “benefits all of humanity,” according to its website. OpenAI has also formed a partnership with Microsoft, which has invested billions in the AI company and integrated OpenAI’s GPT-4 tech into its software programs.
“At x.AI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow. We’ve made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators,” Musk said in the statement, referring to the AI app developed by x.AI. “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.”
The group of investors includes Musk’s x.AI Corp.; Baron Capital Group; Valor Management; Altreides Management; Vy Fund III; Emanuel Capital Management; and Eight Partners VC, according to a statement from Marc Toberoff, the attorney representing the investors.
The funds from the $97.4 billion offer would be “used exclusively to further OpenAI, Inc.’s original charitable mission,” the investor group said in a statement.
