At the start of the week, Elon Musk led a group of investors in a $97.4 billion bid to acquire the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. However, Musk's attorney now says the billionaire will withdraw the offer if OpenAI halts its transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity.
"If OpenAI, Inc.'s Board is prepared to preserve the charity's mission and stipulate to take them for sale' sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid," Musk's lawyers wrote in a court filing on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal first reported this.
If not, "the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets," the filing said, adding that Musk's very "serious offer" was to further the charity's mission.
Following the unsolicited offer by Musk's investor group, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X: "No thank you, but we will buy Twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."
Musk responded by calling Altman a "Swindler."
Musk and Altman have been fighting in court over the direction of OpenAI. Both founded the charitable organization in 2015, and since then, Musk has been furious about Altman's approach to potentially converting it into a for-profit company.
"It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in a statement provided by his lawyers earlier this week, adding, "We will make sure that happens."
The three-page filing, submitted to a San Francisco court Wednesday, has Musk blasting Altman and OpenAI, accusing the company of "repeated self-dealing, putting profits over safety, transferring its technology and keeping it closed source, concentrating AI's power in the hands of Microsoft."
Musk's bid for OpenAI is backed by xAI, his own artificial intelligence company, which could merge with OpenAI following a deal. Other investors in the potential deal include Valor Equity Partners, Baron Capital, Atreides Management, Vy Capital, and 8VC, a venture firm led by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. And who else? Ari Emanuel is the CEO of the Hollywood company Endeavor.
It's not over...
Altman told the press by mid-week, "Our company is not for sale, nor is the mission. We are happy to buy Twitter."
Musk and his lawyers are prepared to match or exceed any bids higher than their own.