Elon Musk, after previously suing OpenAI, has now made an attempt to purchase the company. Recent reports reveal that Musk, along with a group of investors, approached CEO Sam Altman with an offer to buy out OpenAI for $97 billion. However, Altman declined the offer, responding with a firm, "no thank you.”
According to the Wall Street Journal report, Musk and his investment group have officially proposed to OpenAI’s board to take control of the company and return it to its nonprofit origins.
Marc Toberoff, Musk’s lawyer, stated, "If Sam Altman and the current board want OpenAI to become a fully for-profit company, it’s important that the charity is fairly compensated for losing control of such groundbreaking technology."
In response, Altman rejected the offer in a post on Musk’s social media platform, X, saying, "No thanks, but we’d be willing to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you’re interested." This was a playful reference to Musk's $44 billion purchase of Twitter, now X, in 2022.
Musk proposed this offer after suing OpenAI two times in 2024. The first time, in July 2024, he accused the company of acting in a way that diverged from its founding principles, particularly its shift toward a more commercialised, profit-driven structure. Musk felt this shift put OpenAI's work at risk of being controlled by corporate interests rather than focusing on the broader benefits for humanity. This legal battle highlighted tensions between Musk’s vision for AI as an open, nonprofit endeavour and OpenAI’s pursuit of growth and profitability.
In August 2024, Musk again filed a new lawsuit and accused OpenAI of racing to develop powerful “artificial general intelligence” technology to “maximize profits.” Musk also accused the company of engaging in racketeering.
Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI stems from a growing conflict between him and the company he helped found. Musk was one of the initial backers of OpenAI, a nonprofit organisation focused on artificial intelligence. However, over time, he became increasingly unhappy with the direction the company was taking, especially after it shifted to a "capped-profit" model, which he felt compromised its original mission. Musk has also expressed concerns about OpenAI's leadership and its potential influence over AI technology.mbedded entity widget
Source: India Today