Elon Musk's $97B OpenAI Bid Rejected; Feud Escalates

Elon Musk and Sam Altman, two of the world's wealthiest individuals, have been engaged in a public feud over the future of artificial intelligence (AI). The dispute began when Musk, the founder of Tesla, submitted a $97.4 billion buyout offer to OpenAI, the AI research company co-founded by Altman. Altman swiftly rejected the offer, responding with a tongue-in-cheek proposal to buy Twitter for $9.74 billion. Musk retaliated by sharing a video of Altman's 2023 testimony before the US Congress, where Altman claimed he had no equity in OpenAI, and labeling Altman a "scammer."

The feud between Musk and Altman is not new, dating back to when they co-founded OpenAI in 2015. The organization was established as a nonprofit, aiming to advance digital intelligence in a way that benefits humanity without the need for financial return. Musk and Altman served as co-chairs, and the organization planned to collaborate freely with others across various institutions. However, in 2018, Musk stepped down from the board of directors to avoid potential conflicts of interest, as Tesla was developing AI technology for self-driving vehicles. Despite his departure, Musk continued to donate and advise the organization.

In 2019, OpenAI shifted to a "capped-profit" model, creating OpenAI LP, which could raise investment capital and attract employees with startup-like equity. The for-profit LP would still be under the direction of the nonprofit organization, which would govern and oversee all activities through its board. This change in structure raised concerns about the organization's commitment to open-source AI and its potential conflicts of interest.

In 2023, Musk founded his own AI firm, xAI, and developed an "anti-woke" AI called Grok. This move was seen as an expression of Musk's far-right, libertarian politics, and he claimed that AI must be "maximally truth-seeking" and that politically correct AI is "incredibly dangerous."

By 2024, Musk had taken legal action against Altman and OpenAI, alleging that they had courted and deceived him, preying on his humanitarian concerns about the dangers posed by AI. He also claimed that OpenAI had become closed-source and was essentially a subsidiary of Microsoft. In November 2024, Musk