The dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI continues to escalate. Recently, OpenAI's board rejected a takeover bid from a company owned by Elon Musk. This is considered a significant setback for Musk, who has long questioned OpenAI's operations.
San Francisco: The board of directors of OpenAI, a leading American artificial intelligence (AI) company, has dealt a significant blow to industrialist Elon Musk. OpenAI unanimously rejected Musk's company's $97.4 billion acquisition offer. In a statement released Friday, OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor said, "OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Musk's latest attempt to stifle competition."
Furthermore, OpenAI's lawyer, William Savitt, also wrote a letter to Musk's lawyers clarifying that "this proposal is not in the best interests of OpenAI's goals and is rejected."
Long-Standing Differences Between Musk and OpenAI
Elon Musk and Sam Altman co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but later disagreements arose between them regarding the company's leadership and direction. Musk resigned from the board in 2018, after which the dispute intensified. Musk may now focus on his xAI startup, which is developing an AI chatbot called Grok to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Tension Between Elon Musk and OpenAI
Approximately a year ago, Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for breach of contract. Following this, on Monday, Musk, his AI startup xAI, and a group of investment firms announced a bid to acquire the non-profit entity controlling OpenAI.
However, Musk also clarified that he would withdraw his offer to purchase OpenAI if it abandoned its intention to become a for-profit company.
Statement from Musk's Lawyers
In documents filed in a California court on Wednesday, Musk's lawyers stated, "If OpenAI's board decides to maintain its non-profit status and abandon plans to transition into a for-profit entity, Musk will withdraw his bid." Furthermore, the lawyers argued that if OpenAI did not maintain its non-profit status, it would be obligated to obtain fair market value for its assets from an outside buyer.
This legal and business tug-of-war between Musk and OpenAI could impact the power balance in the AI industry. It will now be interesting to see how OpenAI responds.
