It's popcorn time as Musk-Altman feud heats up over Elon's $97.4 billion bid to control OpenAI
Elon Musk seems to have it all. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $402 billion, and he apparently has been given the ability to do whatever he wants by President Donald Trump. But all of this might not be enough and now Musk is going after the hottest company in the hottest sector in the world of technology. Musk and other investors have reportedly made a $97.4 billion bid to purchase the non-profit outfit that runs OpenAI. That's the AI R&D company that owns ChatGPT.
There is an interesting backstory here. Musk co-founded OpenAI along with the latter's CEO Sam Altman and others back in 2015. Musk eventually left OpenAI which was a non-profit organization at the time and remains one to this day. Since the departure of Musk, Altman created a for-profit subsidiary which will be used to raise money. He plans to spin that subsidiary off into a new company according to The Wall Street Journal. The goal is to turn OpenAI into a for-profit company.
Musk's bid for the non-profit firm that owns OpenAI could make it more difficult for Altman's plan to turn OpenAI into a for-profit company. That's because the non-profit arm could still end up owning a large and valuable percentage of the for-profit firm thanks in part to the high value of Musk's offer.
Musk and Altman are feuding and Musk has sued OpenAI claiming that the company violated its original non-profit charter by putting a priority on profits over its original goal of developing AI for the good of humanity. As proof of this shift in its goal, Musk points out how close OpenAI has become with Microsoft which has committed itself to investing as much as $13 billion in the company.
The ChatGPT app gives us the 411 on the Altman-Musk feud. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Less than an hour after news of the Musk group's $97.4 billion bid became public knowledge, Altman posted a message for Musk ironically on the latter's "X" (formerly Twitter) platform. The tweet contained Altman's response to the bid which he rejected by writing, "No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk returned fire by calling Altman a "Swindler."
Elon Musk formed a new AI venture back in 2023 called xAI which has a goal "to understand the true nature of the universe." The Musk-Altman feud turned up the heat a few degrees after Elon started the company.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responds to Musk's $97.4 billion unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI. | Image credit-X
If you like to see a pair of tech billionaires battle each other in public while a $97 billion unsolicited takeover and the future of AI hangs in the balance, grab a bag of Orville Redenbacher, fire up the microwave, sit back and watch.
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