A group of investors led by Elon Musk has submitted a $97.4 billion offer to acquire OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, confirmed that the bid—covering "all assets" of the AI firm—was presented to OpenAI’s board on Monday.
The move marks the latest chapter in the ongoing feud between Musk, a key ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman over the company’s direction amid the AI boom.
Responding to the bid, Altman quipped on Musk’s social media platform, X: "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."
OpenAI is credited with driving AI into the mainstream and attracting massive industry investment.
Musk and Altman co-founded the company in 2015 as a non-profit, but their relationship has deteriorated since Musk’s departure in 2018.
Altman is said to be restructuring the company to become a for-profit entity, stripping it of its non-profit board - a move Musk argues means the company has abandoned its founding mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
But OpenAI argues its transition into a for-profit firm is required to secure the money needed for developing the best artificial intelligence models.
The bid to take over OpenAI bid is being backed by Musk's AI company xAI, as well as several private equity firms, including Baron Capital Group and Valor Management.
"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," Musk said in a statement.
The offer tabled at $97.4bn is much lower than the $157bn the company was valued at in its latest funding round in October last year. Talks over a further funding round reportedly value it now at $300bn.
In a statement, Mr Toberoff said the consortium would be "prepared to consider matching or exceeding" any potential higher bid.
"As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology," Musk's attorney added on his behalf and other investors.
The creator of ChatGPT is also teaming up with another US tech giant, Oracle, along with a Japanese investment firm and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund to build $500bn of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US.
The new company, called The Stargate Project, was announced at the White House by President Donald Trump who billed it "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history" and said it would help keep "the future of technology" in the US.
Musk, despite being a top advisor to Trump, has claimed the venture does not "actually have the money" it has pledged to invest, though he has also not provided any details or substantiation for the comments.
Source: BBC
BDST: 1238 HRS, FEB 11, 2024
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