A group led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4 billion bid to acquire the nonprofit arm of OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT.
Musk submitted a bid for all of the nonprofit’s assets to OpenAI’s board on Feb. 10, according to Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, who said the proposal was “a dramatic escalation in Silicon Valley’s most intense AI competition.”
Musk’s offer to OpenAI brings together a powerful coalition of investors, including his xAI company and venture capital heavyweights like Valor Equity Partners, Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC.
Musk's move comes at a pivotal time for OpenAI, with CEO Sam Altman juggling a number of major financial plans, including converting the company into a for-profit, raising $40 billion at a $340 billion valuation, and launching the $500 billion Stargate infrastructure project.
Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman and others in 2015 before leaving in 2019. The new offer is seen as a bold move by the American billionaire to challenge "OpenAI's betrayal" of its original mission of developing artificial intelligence in a safe, public, and non-profit way.
"It's time for OpenAI to return to open source, with a focus on safety," Musk said in a statement provided to the WSJ by his lawyer Marc Toberoff. "We will make sure that happens."
The nearly $100 billion bid would also put OpenAI’s for-profit transition in serious jeopardy, as Musk’s team has promised to match or outbid any other offer. It also makes things difficult for Sam Altman, who is negotiating with Microsoft and other interested parties for equity in the planned for-profit structure.
Shortly after the news broke, Altman posted on X: “No thanks, but we’ll buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk also responded to Altman’s message: “Scammer.”
OpenAI linked to Altman’s X post when asked to respond.
In a message to employees on an internal Slack channel, Altman stated: “Our structure ensures that no single person can control OpenAI. These are tactics to try to undermine us as we make great progress.”