Photo: Reuters
In a move that might transform artificial intelligence in the future and intensify the legal battle between Musk and OpenAI, a group led by tech billionaire Elon Musk has offered roughly $100 billion to acquire ChatGPT manufacturer OpenAI.
Along with a group of financial firms and his own AI startup, xAI, Musk, who co-founded the AI company, offered to acquire majority shares in the ChatGPT maker and return it to its initial charitable objective of nonprofit research lab, according to the Associated Press.
On Monday, Elon Musk's lawyer Marc Toberoff verified the news and said he had applied to the OpenAI board to acquire all of the company's assets, Indian Express reported.
On Musk's social media site X, the CEO of OpenAI criticised the consortium led by Musk's offer to acquire the ChatGPT maker, saying, “No thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Notably, Musk bought Twitter (now X) for $44 billion in 2022.
Since Musk left the board of OpenAI in 2018 over who should lead the tech start-up, the relationship between the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who also became allegedly US President Donald Trump's right hand while leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has soured.
Musk and Altman co-founded the AI startup in 2015, but the Tesla and X boss has since filed multiple lawsuits against the company and Altman, claiming that OpenAI has violated its founding charter by looking to make profit using its AI tools.
In a statement, Musk said “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was. We will make sure that happens.”
Elon Musk's xAI, Baron Capital Group, Valor Management, and numerous other private equity firms are behind the offer to acquire ChatGPT's parent company.