A consortium of investors led by billionaire Elon Musk is offering $US97.4 billion ($155 billion) to buy the nonprofit that controls artificial intelligence startup OpenAI, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The offer intensifies a longstanding battle between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Musk over the future of the startup at the heart of a boom in generative AI technology.
Elon Musk (left) cofounded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off.Credit: Bloomberg, AP
Musk’s attorney, Marc Toberoff, said he submitted the bid to OpenAI’s board on Monday, according to the report.
“It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” the Wall Street Journal cited Musk as saying in a statement provided by Toberoff. “We will make sure that happens.”
Musk and Altman are already embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit. Musk criticised a massive, $US500 billion OpenAI-led project called Stargate announced with great fanfare at the White House just after President Donald Trump returned to office, suggesting the investors involved lacked the funding for the project.
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OpenAI, Musk, Toberoff and OpenAI-backer Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The bid is being backed by Musk’s AI company xAI, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off. He later founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.
