On Monday, February 10, a consortium led by Elon Musk announced that it has offered $97.4 billion for the purchase of a nonprofit, which controls OpenAI.
It is worth noting that the mentioned statement was made a few months after Mr. Musk sued the specified startup, which developed one of the world’s most popular chatbots powered by artificial intelligence called ChatGPT. In fact, the debut of this chatbot in November 2022 was the initial stage of the so-called machine intelligence boom, which is the main technological trend of the present day.
Elon Musk’s actions are aimed at preventing the transformation of OpenAI into a for-profit organization.
The statement made on Monday may become an escalation factor. In this case, it implies a high probability of increased tension between Elon Musk and OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman. They have different visions of what development strategy should be followed by a startup that is at the center of the artificial intelligence boom and is one of the main players in the global technology sector.
Sam Altman quickly responded to the mentioned statement. He posted a message about the rejection of the proposal from the consortium led by Elon Musk. Sam Altman also announced his willingness to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion. Most likely, this is a joking statement. It is worth mentioning that Elon Musk became the owner of X in 2022. At that time, this virtual platform was called Twitter. The deal’s value was $44 billion. It is also worth mentioning that Elon Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015. In 2018, he resigned from the startup’s board of directors due to a possible conflict of interest.
Elon Musk criticized the $500 billion OpenAI-led project called Stargate, which was officially announced at the White House after the inauguration of President of the United States Donald Trump. Mr. Musk claims that the investors of this project do not have enough financing.
Elon Musk stated that it’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. Also, in the relevant context, he noted the intention to make sure that happens.
OpenAI, Elon Musk, his attorney Marc Toberoff, and OpenAI backer Microsoft did not respond to a media request for comment on Monday’s statement.
The bid is being backed by Mr. Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal. The relevant information was published in the media.
It is worth noting that even without any potential antitrust consequences, a deal of this size would require Elon Musk and his consortium to raise enormous funds.
In October, during the last funding round in October, OpenAI was valued at $157 billion. With this, the startup has become one of the most valuable private brands in the world. Also last month, the media released information according to which SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including the new funds.
The startup that developed ChatGPT is currently trying to transition into a for-profit organization. OpenAI argues that an appropriate transformation is needed to secure the capital to develop better artificial intelligence models. It is worth noting that the elaboration of AI systems requires significant financial injections.
Elon Musk blames OpenAI and Sam Altman for the fact that the startup, which was originally founded as a nonprofit organization focused on developing artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, has changed its strategy, as a result of which commercial performance has become its priority.
As we have reported earlier, SoftBank and OpenAI Unveil Japan Joint Venture.
