OpenAI’s board of directors on Friday rejected a $97.4 billion bid from Elon Musk and an investor coalition to control the AI company, deepening the dispute between Mr. Musk and Openai CEO Sam Altman.
“Openai is not for sale, and the board unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to undermine his game,” Openai’s chairman Bret Taylor said in a statement.
Openai also sent a letter to Mr. Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, saying the bid was “not in the best interest of the OAI mission.”
Mr Musk and Mr Toberf did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Openai’s rejection comes after Monday’s offer to Mr. Musk and other investors a $97.4 billion proposal to control OpenAI’s nonprofit assets. With the bid, Mr. Musk is stepping into a plan that changes OpenAI’s corporate structure by shifting control of the company from nonprofits to OpenAI investors, including Microsoft.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Artman have been in conflict for many years. Mr. Musk, along with Mr. Altman and others, helped create Openai as a nonprofit in 2015. In 2018, Mr. Musk left the organization after the battle to control the company. Mr. Altman then attached Openai to a for-profit company, so he could raise the billions of dollars needed to build AI technology.
The nonprofit retains control of the company. Last year, Mr. Altman and his colleagues began developing a plan to transfer control of the company from nonprofits to investors in OpenAI. Mr. Musk’s $97.4 bid could complicate the plan.
(The New York Times has sued Openai and Microsoft for copyright to news content related to AI Systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied these claims.)
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