Elon Musk, leading a consortium of investors, has made a bold move by offering $97.4 billion to acquire OpenAI, the creator of the widely popular ChatGPT. This proposition marks the latest development in an ongoing rivalry between Musk and OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, regarding the future trajectory of the company. OpenAI, which was valued at $157 billion during its latest funding round in October last year, finds the current bid considerably lower than its valuation. However, Musk's group is open to adjusting their offer should a higher bid arise.
In a surprising twist, Sam Altman took to Musk's own social media platform, X, to express his thoughts on the offer. Altman quipped, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want," hinting at a potential counter-move in this high-stakes corporate chess game. Meanwhile, Musk, through his attorney Marc Toberoff, confirmed the bid to acquire "all assets" of OpenAI to the company's board on Monday.
OpenAI is currently engaged in discussions for another funding round that reportedly values the company at $300 billion. Despite this, the consortium backing Musk's bid includes his AI company xAI and several private equity firms, demonstrating significant financial muscle behind the offer.
In parallel to these developments, OpenAI is collaborating with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund to construct $500 billion worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States. This ambitious initiative, named The Stargate Project, was unveiled at the White House by President Donald Trump and is described as "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history."
"the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history" – President Donald Trump
OpenAI's shift into a for-profit entity is argued as necessary to secure the financial resources essential for developing advanced AI models. This transition marks a significant departure from its origins when Musk and Altman co-founded it in 2015 as a non-profit organization dedicated to open-source and safety-focused AI development. However, since Musk's departure from OpenAI in 2018, their relationship has noticeably deteriorated.
"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