OpenAI’s board of directors has raised concerns over a USD 97.4 billion takeover bid led by Elon Musk and others, questioning the rationale behind the proposal, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
On Monday, a group of investors led by Musk made the USD 97.4 billion bid to acquire OpenAI’s assets. In response, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took a jibe at the offer on X, saying, “No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” Musk responded by calling Altman a “swindler.”
In a court filing on Wednesday, OpenAI argued that Musk’s offer contradicted his legal stance in a lawsuit he filed against the company last year. The filing pointed out that Musk had previously asserted that OpenAI’s assets must remain with the nonprofit and should not be transferred to another organization for public gain.
The company is essentially accusing Musk of hypocrisy. In his lawsuit, he argued that OpenAI must be governed by the nonprofit. Now, OpenAI contends he is arguing the opposite, The New York Times reported. As of now, OpenAI’s board has not made a formal decision on the offer.
Meanwhile, Marc Toberoff, a Los Angeles lawyer who filed the lawsuit against OpenAI on behalf of Musk, said in a statement to The New York Times on Wednesday, “The lawsuit is not about who controls OpenAI. It’s about Sam Altman and OpenAI’s misconduct.”
He added, “If OpenAI’s board is prepared to stipulate to take the ‘For Sale’ sign off the charity’s assets in its so-called ‘conversion,’ Musk will withdraw his bid. But, of course, OpenAI will never do that.”
Notably, Musk and Altman have been at loggerheads for quite some time.
In August last year, Musk filed a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of prioritizing profits over its original nonprofit mission of advancing AI for the benefit of humanity.
This month, a U.S. federal judge stated that parts of Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, seeking to halt its conversion to a for-profit entity, might go to trial. The judge also noted that the Tesla CEO would have to appear in court and testify, Al Jazeera reported.
It is worth noting that Musk co-founded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left before the company took off. He later founded the competing AI startup xAI in 2023.
Separately, just in the first week of his presidency, Donald Trump announced a joint venture, Stargate, which would invest approximately USD 500 billion in AI infrastructure through a partnership between OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL), and SoftBank (SFTBY).
(ANI)
