97 billion dollar offer for OpenAI from Elon Musk!

An investor group led by the world's richest person, Elon Musk, has submitted an offer of approximately 97.4 billion dollars to acquire the non-profit organization behind OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT. This offer has further deepened the dispute between Musk and OpenAI, which he co-founded a decade ago.

Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI and a group of investors want to take control of OpenAI to ensure the organization remains a non-profit research laboratory, which was its original mission. This statement was made by Musk's lawyer, Marc Toberoff.

Following the offer, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly responded to Musk on the social media platform X, saying, "Thanks, but we're not interested. If you want, we can buy Twitter for 9.74 billion dollars." Musk had purchased Twitter (now known as X) for 44 billion dollars in 2022.

Musk and Altman, who were involved in the founding of OpenAI in 2015, had disagreements over the company's management, and Musk left the board of directors in 2018.

Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company had betrayed its mission. Musk criticized OpenAI for shifting toward a for-profit model, arguing that its founding purpose was to develop safe and beneficial artificial intelligence. Musk had invested 45 million dollars in the company until 2018. In 2023, OpenAI's board of directors dismissed Sam Altman, but Altman returned shortly after. OpenAI had announced plans to change its structure in 2022, but such changes require complex legal processes.

Musk demanded that OpenAI's transition to a for-profit structure be halted. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers decided that the case should proceed, but noted that Musk's claims were "an extreme assertion." Musk and several other investors stated that they expect a competitive bidding process to ensure that OpenAI's charitable assets are traded at their fair market value.