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The Chief Executive of ChatGPT-owner OpenAI, Sam Altman, has confirmed it is “not for sale” after a bid of $97.4bn from a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk.
But what is the history between Musk, OpenAI, and Sam Altman? Why did Musk make an offer for OpenAI, and what will be the impact of the world’s richest man attempting to buy the leading AI model on the development of AI?
OpenAI board rejects buy-out bid
The Board of Open AI unanimously rejected Musk’s bid, labelling it as a “bid to disrupt competition”. OpenAI’s Board Chairman Bret Taylor has backed Altman’s position, doubling down that Open AI is “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr. Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition”.
This refusal is another paragraph in the up-and-down history between OpenAI and Elon Musk. This is all while Musk attempts to build his own AI powerhouse, xAI.
The feud between the two most public figures Altman and Musk has also played out on social media, with Altman posting a riposte on Musk-owned X “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
The history between Musk and OpenAI
As for why he wants to buy OpenAI, Musk has publicly said that he wants to return the company to its non-profit structure and its mission of developing AI for humanity’s benefit.
OpenAI is not a publicly traded company, it has a complicated structure that involves a partnership between its non-profit and for-profit arms.
Musk and AI have a complex history. Elon Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015. Both co-founders shared the mindset that AI should be developed for the benefit of humankind. However, Musk later left in 2018 after disagreements arose over the company’s direction and a reported attempt by Musk to buy out the company.
In the wake of Musk’s departure, OpenAI has risen to the most influential company in AI, since securing major funding from Microsoft and integrating into its suite of tools.
Since Musk left OpenAI, he has criticised its shift to a closed, profit-driven model.
So, is Musk really just trying to derail his competitors?
As for the purity of his motivations Christie Pitts, a tech investor based in San Francisco, in an interview with the BBC voiced her skepticism for his attempted buy-out:
"I think it's fair to be pretty suspicious of this considering that he has a competitor himself... which is structured as a for-profit company, so I think there's more than meets the eye here".
Additionally, Altman was quoted by Axios saying Musk is: "A competitor who is not able to beat us in the market and you know, instead is just trying to say, like, 'I'm gonna buy this' with total disregard for the mission".
Musk said of his offer in a statement to the Washington Post: “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was”.
What were Musk’s ambitions for OpenAI?
If Musk succeeded in pushing a deal with OpenAI through it would have demonstrated a titanic shift in the AI landscape. Merging OpenAI and xAI would create an unparalleled force with resources and talent that would be unmatched by the competition in the market.
Musk would be able to combine the advanced models of OpenAI with the open source nature of xAI to push AI toward his vision of transparency and accessibility.
Elon Musk buying OpenAI would represent industry dominance and a huge competitive advantage over the current competition including Google Deepmind. With his history of scaling disruptive technologies and commercialising them, Tesla and Space X, buying OpenAI could allow Musk to realise his ambitions in shaping the trajectory of AI.
Why would OpenAI restructure?
OpenAI was founded as a non-profit. They are currently attempting to restructure in a way that makes fundraising easier and to increase returns for investors.
Musk claims that by doing so OpenAI is pursuing profit over its aim to be a force of good for humankind.
He even launched a lawsuit against OpenAI in June 2024 attempting to derail their restructuring. The lawsuit was eventually dropped after OpenAI published a blog post which showed that Musk agreed that the company had a need top raise large sums of money to fund the computing power needed to fund the company’s ambitions. These emails contrasted strongly with Musk’s lawsuit claims that OpenAI was pursuing profit for profit sake.
The future for Open AI
OpenAI and Altman have reasserted their commitment to independence. The company aims to achieve its mission without outside influence, particularly from Elon Musk.
Altman has hammered the point that OpenAI has an unconventional structure, and despite its for-profit wing is ultimately set up to contribute to humanity’s interests rather than its own corporate interests. The fact that Musk’s xAI is set up as a for-profit organization suggests that his quibbling with OpenAI’s company structure is disingenuous.
OpenAI seems to be determined to use its resources to drive the development of its products, rather than relying on external investment.
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