Elon Musk’s $97.4B OpenAI bid challenges Altman
Elon Musk along with the group of investors made a bid of $97.4 billion towards the non-profit company that manages OpenAI. This further complicates the ongoing conflict between Kirsh and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, on the strategic vision of the company.
After Musk had originally become a part of the company in 2015, and later leaving in 2018, the reason he provided was the internal haggles. His criticism lies with the changing motives of the company and the make-shift shift from a not-for-profit open-sourced model to an overarching profit-shift organization. He fears that profit motives are causing OpenAI to lose focus on its primary mission which is the development of AI for the good of humanity.
Along with Sam Altman, Musk’s other investors such as xAI, Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC have also flagged support for the proposal. Musk’s publicly stated focus is to refocus OpenAI’s strategy, realigning it with its original mission and enabling the newly formed company to safely and exclusively use open-source technologies.
Altman comically addressed the uncovered bid on X, saying, “No thank you, but in this case, we are more than willing to purchase Twitter for $9.74 billion.” alongside Musk’s acquisition in 2022. Musk responded by stating that Altman is a “swindler.”
This move makes it difficult for OpenAI, which remains in the process of transforming from a nonprofit to a for-profit venture. According to some attorneys, this affects the valuation of assets as well as the fundraising of OpenAI. A federal judge is currently considering Musk’s argument, which seeks to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit organization, suggesting that doing so is antithetical to its original charitable goal.
This result as well as litigations it may attract are likely to have a lot of influence over what OpenAI should do next regarding its participation and involvement in such a fast-growing field, artificial intelligence.
