By Arsheeya Bajwa, Anna Tong and Krystal Hu
(Reuters) – A consortium led by Elon Musk said on Monday it has offered $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, another salvo in the billionaire’s fight to block the artificial intelligence startup from transitioning to a for-profit firm.
Musk’s bid is likely to ratchet up longstanding tensions with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the future of the ChatGPT maker at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology. Altman on Monday promptly posted on X: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 as a nonprofit, but left before the company took off. He founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of tech and social media company X, is a close ally of President Donald Trump. He spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump, and leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy. Musk recently criticized a $500 billion OpenAI-led project announced by Trump at the White House.
OpenAI is now trying to transition into a for-profit from a nonprofit entity, which it says is required to secure the capital needed for developing the best AI models.
Musk sued Altman and others in August last year, claiming they violated contract provisions by putting profit ahead of the public good in the push to advance AI. In November, he asked a U.S. district judge for a preliminary injunction blocking OpenAI from converting to a for-profit structure.
Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman says the founders originally approached him to fund a nonprofit focused on developing AI to benefit humanity, but that it was now focused on making money.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk said in a statement on Monday. “We will make sure that happens.”
Altman said to staff in a message the company’s board intends to make clear it has no interest in Musk’s “supposed bid”, according to a report by The Information on Monday. He told Axios on Tuesday OpenAI was not for sale.
Musk and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The consortium led by Musk includes his AI startup xAI, Baron Capital Group, Emanuel Capital and others.
xAI could merge with OpenAI following a deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported Musk’s offer earlier on Monday. xAI recently raised $6 billion from investors at a valuation of $40 billion, sources have told Reuters.
