Elon Musk (pictured) would withdraw a $97.4 billion offer to buy OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker agrees to stop its conversion into a for-profit entity, a court filing showed.
The tech billionaire called for action in a filing to a US district court on 12 February.
“If OpenAI, Inc.’s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the for sale sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” the court documents revealed.
“Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.”
Musk, his AI company xAI and investment companies Baron Capital Group and Emmanuel Capital, launched a bid to buy OpenAI’s non-profit division on 10 February.
The consortium accused OpenAI CEO Sam Altman of abandoning the company’s original mission of developing AI for good in favour of profit.
Altman rejected the offer and stated on Musk-owned X “we will buy Twitter for $9.7 billion if you want”.
The OpenAI CEO told CNBC Musk’s offer is a ploy to “slow down a competitor”.
OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015 and then moved to a “capped profit” model in 20219, CNBC wrote.
In September 2024, OpenAI initiated a restructure, making its for-profit unit independent from its non-profit parent to boost its ability to raise funds.
Musk is a co-founder of OpenAI, but left the organisation in 2018 following clashes with Altman and since criticised the company’s revised business model.
CNBC reported the Tesla and SpaceX founder yesterday (13 February) repeated his concern over the change in OpenAI’s business model during a video address to an audience at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Musk reportedly said he provided $50 million to OpenAI with the understanding it was meant to be open source and a non-profit entity.
The news site reported he told the audience OpenAI should change its name to “maximum profit AI”.
Source: Mobile World Live
