Last Updated:February 11, 2025, 10:21 IST

A Musk-led group proposed to purchase the nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion, but Altman rejected the unsolicited bid. This marks the latest in the feud between two tech leaders.

The feud between Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman escalated as the former led an investor group to purchase the non-profit that controls the artificial intelligence company for $97.4 billion.

Musk and his own AI startup, xAI, and a consortium of investment firms want to take control of the ChatGPT maker, but Altman rejected the unsolicited bid on Musk’s platform X, saying, “no thank you but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk, who bought X under its former moniker for $44 billion in 2022, replied to the post by simply writing: “Swindler.”

This marks the latest escalation between Musk and Altman, who together helped start OpenAI in 2015 and later competed over who should lead it. Musk has criticised OpenAI for abandoning its open-source and non-profit mission.

‘I Don’t Trust OpenAI’: Musks Adds Fuel To Fire

Musk targeted the OpenAI CEO in a series of incendiary social media posts, calling him “Scam Altman” after he rejected the offer. “It’s time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was,” he was quoted as saying by the Wall Street Journal before making the offer.

The tech mogul, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, also shared a previous video where he shared his apprehensions about the OpenAI policy. “I don’t trust OpenAI. I started that company as a nonprofit open-source. The open in OpenAI, I named the company,” he said.

“OpenAI as in open source and it is now extremely closed source and maximising profit. I don’t understand how you can go from being an open source nonprofit to a closed source for maximum profit organisation,” he added. When asked about whether Sam Altman was getting rich, Musk said although the OpenAI CEO claimed not to get rich, he has claimed many things that were false.

“Now apparently he’s going to get $10 billion of stock or something like that so I don’t trust Sam Altman. I don’t think we would want to have the most powerful AI in the world controlled by someone who’s not trustworthy,” he further remarked.

Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the company last year, first in a California state court and later in federal court, alleging it had betrayed its founding aims as a nonprofit research lab that would benefit the public good by safely building better-than-human AI.

The sudden success of ChatGPT two years ago brought worldwide fame and a new revenue stream to OpenAI and also heightened the internal battles over the future of the organization and the advanced AI it was trying to develop. Its non-profit board fired Altman in late 2023. He came back days later with a new board.

Musk-Trump Split Over Mega AI Project

After his inauguration in January, Trump announced a major $500 billion investment to build infrastructure for AI in the United States – led by Japanese giant Softbank, cloud giant Oracle and OpenAI.

However, Musk was quick to cast doubt on the project, saying the money promised for the investment actually was not there. The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world’s richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the new US administration.

Altman fired back at Musk. “Wrong, as you surely know,” he said, responding to Musk’s allegation that SoftBank was short of capital. “I realise what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you’ll mostly put America first.”

(with agency inputs)

Location :

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)