Photo: OpenAI
A group of investors led by Elon Musk has offered to buy the nonprofit arm that controls OpenAI for US$97.4 billion (~S$132.07 billion).
The bid is backed by Musk’s own AI company xAI, and investor firms including Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Vy Capital, and 8VC.
The bid comes at an interesting time because of Musk’s ongoing legal tussle with OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman.
As one of the co-founders of OpenAI, Musk is accusing OpenAI for abandoning its original nonprofit mission by creating a for-profit arm that it is using to raise money. Altman is in the midst of turning the for-profit arm into a traditional company and spinning out the nonprofit arm, which would then own equity in the new for-profit business.
Musk, in a statement provided by his lawyer, said:
It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure it happens.
Altman quickly rejected the offer on X and made a cheeky counteroffer to buy X.
He also reportedly told OpenAI employees in a Slack message that OpenAI’s structure prevents individuals from taking control of the company and that “these are tactics to try and weaken us because we are making great progress.”
Source: Wall Street Journal
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