Let the OpenAI takeover games begin
Elon Musk, weeks into launching what the FT has dubbed a “hostile takeover” of the US government, has set his eyes on another target: OpenAI, the artificial intelligence start-up that has spurred billions in investment and calls for a new technological age.
Musk, the richest person in the world, and a group of co-investors submitted a near-$100bn bid for the non-profit that controls OpenAI on Monday, throwing a wrench in Sam Altman’s plan to convert the start-up into a for-profit entity.
This isn’t Musk’s first foray with the ChatGPT maker, and in fact, it’s just the latest salvo in a lengthy, bitter rivalry between the Tesla boss and Altman.
Their history goes back to when Musk co-founded OpenAI and invested tens of millions of dollars into the fledgling company before leaving its board in 2018.
Since then, he’s been a vocal critic of Altman’s attempt to convert it into a for-profit business, with Musk saying the plan betrays the company’s founding mission.
On top of all that, the former collaborators are competing to dominate AI — with Musk running his own company xAI — as they each race to raise tens of billions of dollars and build vast data centres.
Shortly after the news broke on Monday, the feud between Musk and Altman spilled further into the open. Or rather, the sparring of words made its way to where so many things are duked out nowadays: social media platform X, formerly called Twitter.
Altman soon posted on the site: “no thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
There are a few big caveats here. “OpenAI doesn’t have to sell,” said Ann Lipton, a law professor at Tulane University. “The non-profit controls [OpenAI], and until that structure changes, it has obligations as a non-profit to pursue its mission.”
There was “nothing Musk can do but use soft persuasive power”, she added.
But with Musk’s plum post at the centre of Donald Trump’s White House — as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency — that soft power could be significant.