(qlmbusinessnews.com . Wed 12th Feb, 2025) London, UK —
AI Standoff: Altman Dismisses Musk's Bid to Return OpenAI to Non-Profit Roots
Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, has dismissed a £78.4 billion (USD $97.4 billion) takeover bid led by Elon Musk, stating unequivocally, “We are not for sale.” Altman made the comments at the AI Action Summit in Paris, reiterating OpenAI's commitment to its mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.
The bid, confirmed by Musk's attorney Marc Toberoff, was submitted to OpenAI's board on Monday. It comes amidst a complex corporate structure at OpenAI, which blends non-profit and for-profit elements. Musk, who co-founded OpenAI before a falling-out, argues for a return to its original non-profit roots, a claim viewed with scepticism by some in the tech sector, given his own for-profit AI venture, xAI.
“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,” said Christie Pitts, a tech investor at Panasonic Well.
Altman himself suggested Musk was 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.”
In a tongue-in-cheek response, Altman quipped on X, formerly Twitter, “no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
The ownership structure of OpenAI is unusual. Unlike many tech giants, it is not a publicly traded company. Musk claims he wants to return OpenAI to its original mission of developing AI for the benefit of humanity.
While Altman has stated he owns no stock in OpenAI, he advocates transforming the organisation into a fully for-profit entity to unlock further investment in AI research. However, the final decision rests with the board, who may be swayed by an increased offer.
The current bid significantly undercuts OpenAI's recent valuation. The £78.4 billion offer is well below the £125 billion valuation in its latest funding round and far short of reported talks valuing it at £238 billion. Musk's attorney stated the consortium would be “prepared to consider matching or exceeding” any higher bid.
“As the co-founder of OpenAI and the most innovative and successful tech industry leader in history, Musk is the person best positioned to protect and grow OpenAI's technology,” Toberoff added.
Furthermore, OpenAI is involved in a massive project named The Stargate Project, aimed at building $500 billion worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US, in partnership with Oracle, a Japanese investment firm, and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund. Announced at the White House, the project was touted as the largest AI infrastructure project in history. Musk has cast doubt on the project's funding, though he has not provided specific details.
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