Elon Musk and a group of investors have submitted a $97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI. The bid, confirmed by Musk’s lawyer Marc Toberoff, was reported by The Wall Street Journal. This move marks the latest development in Musk’s ongoing dispute with OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman.

The offer is seen as an effort to realign OpenAI with its original mission of open-source artificial intelligence. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 before departing in 2018, has criticized its shift towards a for-profit model. “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” Musk stated through Toberoff. “We will make sure that happens.”

Musk’s AI company, xAI, is involved in the bid, raising speculation that a successful acquisition could lead to a merger between xAI and OpenAI. He also highlighted xAI’s commitment to open-source AI, contrasting it with OpenAI’s current direction. “At xAI, we live by the values I was promised OpenAI would follow,” Musk said. “We’ve made Grok open source, and we respect the rights of content creators.”

The bid follows Musk’s 2024 legal action against OpenAI, in which he challenged the company’s transition away from its nonprofit status. His latest attempt to take control of OpenAI reinforces his stance against its commercialization and aligns with his call for AI transparency.

Altman responded to Musk’s bid with a dismissive remark on X, formerly Twitter. “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want,” he posted. The comment references Musk’s high-profile $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022.

OpenAI has yet to officially respond to the offer. The bid raises questions about the company’s valuation and future, as well as the broader impact on the artificial intelligence sector. With Musk’s ongoing legal actions and public criticism of OpenAI, the proposed acquisition adds another layer to the conflict between the two co-founders.

SOURCE: TECHCRUNCH | PHOTO: INVENTIVA

This article was created with AI assistance.