Elon Musk is leading a group of investors to propose acquiring OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, for $97.4 billion (approximately A$155 billion), a move considered a significant step that could reshape the future of artificial intelligence. This move will undoubtedly intensify competition in the AI field and may have a profound impact on the direction of industry development.
Read Also...:
At least five protesters killed during storming of Kenya's parliament
02-11, 2025
What we know about the Super Bowl halftime show demonstrator
02-11, 2025
Title: Donald Trump signs steel, aluminium tariff executive order after phone call with Anthony Albanese
02-11, 2025
All hell is going to break out': Trump says ceasefire deal should be cancelled if Hamas doesn't release all h
02-11, 2025Musk has long been in dispute with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and has filed multiple lawsuits against the company and Altman. Musk claims that OpenAI and its leadership have misrepresented its nature as a charity, accusing the company of violating its original charter and turning to using its AI tools to pursue profits. OpenAI's operational model is complex, with a non-profit organization controlling a for-profit entity called OpenAI LP.
This for-profit entity has increased OpenAI's valuation from almost zero to approximately $100 billion in just a few years, and Altman is widely regarded as the architect of this plan and the key to the company's success. According to the Wall Street Journal, Musk's massive investment could give him majority control of the company, thereby directly competing with his own AI company, X.AI.
Mark Tobeyourov, a lawyer representing the investors, said in a statement: "If Sam Altman and the current OpenAI board of directors intend to become a fully for-profit company, it is crucial that the charity receive fair compensation to make up for what its leadership has taken from it: control over the most transformative technology of our time." He added: "Now is the time for OpenAI to return to its original open-source, safety-focused, and socially beneficial forces. We will ensure that this happens."
In response, Altman posted on the X platform: "No thanks, but we can buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI in 2015 but later left due to disputes over the company's shift to for-profit work. In a bizarre board struggle in late 2023, the OpenAI board fired Altman but quickly rehired him. The board has since been reorganized, and former directors involved in the decision have stated that they were concerned that OpenAI was developing too quickly without considering safety.
OpenAI was originally founded because its founders believed that artificial general intelligence (AGI) posed a serious threat to humanity. The company established a board of supervisors to review any products developed by the company and to make the code of its products public. However, companies with strong backing, such as Microsoft and venture capital firm Thrive Capital, have an obligation to grow their business and make money. Investors want to ensure that their investments are rewarded, and they often lack patience, which may lead Altman to push the for-profit company to innovate faster and bring products to market early.
Silicon Valley adheres to the tradition of "move fast and break things," and these early products were not always so effective at first. This can become a problem when the technology is so good at mimicking human language and behavior that it can deceive people into believing that its false conversations and images are real. Musk first sued OpenAI in June 2024, but he withdrew the initial lawsuit after the company published a blog post containing Musk's early emails. These emails seemed to indicate that Musk acknowledged that the company needed to earn a lot of money to fund the computing resources required for its AI ambitions, which contrasted with his claim in the lawsuit that OpenAI was improperly pursuing profits.
Musk filed a new lawsuit last August, accusing OpenAI of racing to develop powerful "artificial general intelligence" technology to "maximize profits" and accusing the company of engaging in racketeering activities. At the same time, OpenAI accused Musk of essentially being jealous because he was no longer involved in the startup, as he left OpenAI in 2018 after failing to persuade other co-founders to have Tesla acquire the company.
